It’s Tuesday. Plain ole’, nothing special Tuesday.

I am eating Ruffles and Ranch dip for lunch at 2:15 in the afternoon. On my desk sits a Classical Conversations magazine, a preschool flyer, a package that needs to be returned to Amazon, our Christmas Memories book that has yet to be filled out for this year, my sketch pad, some canvases that I’m working on, several printed out recipes for this week’s meals, a folder full of medical stuff, and my Hope for the Weary Mom Devotional. In my lap is my planner and a pencil. Behind me on the floor of my office/the laundry room are four basket full of clean laundry that need to be folded. Above me on the HVAC ducts of our basement that makeshift as my bulletin board, are reminders that Adelle needs to fill out her Valentine’s and make her box today (When on earth did it become a thing to make a box??? We had paper bags and liked it, thankyouverymuch!), a lot of Bible verses, and lists for both the girls’ Valentine’s Tea Party as well as Adelle’s class Valentine’s Party – because I’m room mom – because I tried to wait everyone out at the beginning of the year and everyone else had the same plan. The kitchen counter is filled with groceries that must be put away. There’s a meal in the crockpot that there’s a pretty good chance no one will eat.

This is life, and on a lot of days it’s far busier than I want it to be.

You know exactly what I mean, don’t you?

There are significant decisions to be made, responsibilities to be accepted and denied, but more than all of that – there are people right here under my nose that must be seen, that I get to see.

Today alone I have been greeted and snuggled and laughed with. I have done dishes and bought groceries and showered. I have the ability to choose how my children will be schooled. I can explore dreams and career options. I have a friend who writes books full of goodness and truth and love, and mails them to me with tiny, adorable vials of Serenity, which basically has the same effect as a couple of glasses of wine, relaxationally speaking. I have Voxer and pretty pink china with which to throw Valentine’s Tea Parties. I have a friend who will meet me at 5 a.m. and help me whip this three-babies-later-body into shape. I have a Mama who reads scripture over me when I am discouraged and a sister who cries with me when I see God bend low.

So, yes. It’s a plain ole’, nothing special Tuesday. And today I choose to fall back in love with mothering, back in love with this very life in front of me.

What about you? What is there to love instead of be overwhelmed by in your life today? How can you get wrapped up in the goodness around you instead of the vastness before you?

The best way, I’ve found is make a list of everything that’s wearing you slap out and making you straight crazy. Write them out, one, two, three. And then make a list that corresponds to each wearisome item citing what they point to in your life, how they are representations of good, good gifts. Sometimes, maybe, they’re only good for making your more like Jesus. Sometimes, they are just legitimately hard things that make you lean heavier into the Bible and telling God the truth. This, my friends, is a greater gift than anything else you’ve been given. Even if reading that makes you want to hit me – I promise…pain that points us to Jesus is always an extravagant gift.

I wrote a book about hard seasons. It’s called The Down and Dirty Truth About Miscarriages and it’s yours fo’ free when you sign up for my Newsletter on the right hand side of this page. It’s about far more than miscarriages – it’s about dealing with grief of all kinds. I’d love to send it to you!