If I have learned one thing in my life, it’s this – you have to be home to clean your house.
I know it’s not rocket science. But follow me here.
Somewhere towards the end of football / soccer / marching band season, I have a meltdown. No matter how much I prep for the busy-ness of the season, no matter how much I know there’s an end in sight (I only have 3 more weeks of football laundry to do – Hallelujah!), no matter what I do, I just can’t keep up and the mess gets to me.
I see it everywhere. In every crack and crevice. In every nook and cranny. Clutter. Mess. There should be caution tape hanging here everywhere.
And I start feeling overwhelmed by it all. I start getting frustrated and even feel a bit claustrophobic about it.
But at the end of the day, you have to be home to clean your house. And from the beginning of August to the end of October, we just aren’t home that much. When I am home, since I work at home, I’m usually working. And that makes it kind of a double whammy. I sit here surrounded by it and can’t do a thing about it.
But today, I have decided to embrace the mess.
Here’s the thing…I’m thankful for the mess today. Why? Because I’m thankful for my three kids that make the mess. I could be sitting here in a very clean house….and be all alone. I’m so blessed.
Today, I embrace the mess because my three kids are healthy and active and involved in things they love. I could be sitting in hospital rooms or treatment centers with them like so many parents are. I am SO blessed!
I’m grateful today because at the end of the day when practices are done and dinner is consumed, my kids do their homework. I’m grateful for homework even though it keeps them from cleaning because that means my kids go to school. A free school I don’t have to pay for at which they get an excellent education. Bring on the mess!
I’m embracing the mess today because I have a home to contain it. It’s not the biggest house on the block, and if it were on one of those home decorating shows, they would call it worse than dated, but it’s ours. And it’s warm and dry and filled with my family and with love. I can’t believe just how blessed I am.
I could go on and on. My dated cupboards are filled with food. I have a refrigerator and deep freeze filled with food. I don’t have an “en suite” bathroom or even a “master” bedroom, but I have two bathrooms with warm showers and running water and toilets that flush. We all have beds to sleep on with warm blankets. There are two cars in my garage – they aren’t fancy or new, but they take us where we need to go.
It’s so simple, but so many times we get frustrated and a bit down because we’re focusing on all the negatives about our situation. I know I was when I had my meltdown.
But if we’ll just take a step back and see all the wonderful things around us, frustration gets replaced with peace and joy. And gratitude.
So I’m thankful for my mess today. In fact, I embrace it and choose to be grateful instead of frustrated. What mess are you embracing today?