Friday, June 21, 2013

FMF: Rhythm

Five Minute Friday




I'm linking up to 5 Minute Fridays, a weekly writing prompt shared among all bloggers who participate.  This week's theme is graceful.  You can find out all about it here.


GO.

via
"It took me about three years to get the mothering thing down, to find my rhythm."

Words from a wise friend who has graduated one kiddo and has long since left the world of diapers and naptime.  None of her children run around naked (as my oldest is still apt to do) and they are all wonderfully helpful, giving people.

So there's comfort in that it took her three years to find her bearings before figuring out how to raise these wonderful humans.

But.  I'm terrified.

In a few weeks there will be a cake--carrot cake with Bambi on top, as requested--with three candles on it.

Three candles.  And I still feel so often like I'm drowning.

I feel like the "rhythm" we have is not enough because it revolves around nursing, meals, and sleep.  Tuesday and Thursday mornings we go out on the town so I don't lose my mind...but we still end up at Costco once a week so eyes and minds can wander among the abundant space that isn't this apartment.  And for the cheap pizza (also, they've switched to Pepsi products in the food court which makes it all the more tempting to load 'em up and head on out).

Our days don't have lesson plans or consistent hair grooming or objectives or neatly scrubbed floors that were once a part of our life and it makes me forever second guess my ability as a mother.

But there is hope, and I will cling to it: there is more sleep at night.  There is less crying.  There is more consistent memory work at breakfast, Scripture washed down with milk and hidden in little hearts.  Everyone is fed and held and given the gift of sleep baby sleep.

For now, that is all the rhythm we need, no matter how much more I want.


STOP.

7 comments:

  1. Once you get more sleep it does get easier. Sadly it is not just the first 3 years, then there is preschool where you find a whole new rhythm. I think kids are the way God keeps us on our toes. I also think of it as his revenge for eating the apple :)

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    1. Thanks, Kerri; I'm so looking forward to more sleep! And I think just about every trial we've heaped on our heads came from that darn apple :D

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  2. You are not alone, Michelle. I understand! All your friends who have had young children understand. Your perspective is a blessing - and your attitude of dependency on God will have a lasting impact on your family. I wish I had enjoyed the younger years with all the ups and downs more than I did. The days are long/the years are short. Keep praying and resting in Him. And please let me know how I can help you. Hugs!

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    1. Thank you, Sara! "The days are long/the years are short."--I need to keep that in the front of my mind!

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  3. Each stage has its moments. You will look back on these years and treasure the time you spent potty training and nursing, as you face the challenges of running in two or more different directions to get kids to soccer practice or band lessons or youth group, or all three. And when you look back, you'll think how PEACEFUL that era of nursing and potty training was. I think it's God's way of allowing us to keep procreating: selective memories! Bless you and your family on this wonderful journey!

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    1. Haha, thanks, Vicki! That's good perspective: I wouldn't have thought of this season as peaceful, but I suppose it only gets crazier from here!

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  4. Hang in there, Michelle! Your little ones are forming (or have formed) so much of who they will be and what really counts in life. As a mom in "survival mode" (aptly named at our house!), you rarely see the forest for the trees, but "He who called you is faithful who also will do it" (1 Thess. 5:24). I so appreciate your emphasis on the Word of God--living and active, at breakfast, on the go, with other women. Your daughters are watching and learning. Praying Matthew 6:33 for you. It was my lifeline--esp. at naptime when preying temptations took on sinister glares.

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