Everyday Ordinary–Embracing your season

We’re studying Ancient Egypt so we skipped our regular school schedule yesterday to make a chocolate chip cookie map of Ancient Egypt. We used blue M&M’s for the Nile and the Nile delta; green for the inundation; red for the lower desert; brown for the cities of Thebes and Memphis; and stacked milk caramels for the pyramids and Mount Sinai.

Sometimes we just need a change of pace.

And when we wake up from the sugar coma we should be in Ancient Rome.

We’ve been in the throws of homeschooling, stomach bugs, 104 degree fevers (yikes!), potty training and the occasional potty misses, piles of laundry, dishes, some rotten attitudes and fun.

Sometimes the everyday ordinary can feel so ordinary.

The challenge is to not miss the extraordinary in the middle of the ordinary, because everyday moments make up days that make up weeks that make up months that make the the short 18 years or so years we get to spend with kids in our house.

I don’t want to miss a moment.

But that can be so hard to put in perspective in the everyday ordinary moments.

It can be hard to put into perspective when someone smooshes melted chocolate chips into the white rug after a day of cleaning; or someone is dumping out craft bins after you’ve cleaned that room while you’re busy cleaning up a similar mess in the bedroom; or when you have like 5 baskets of laundry to sort in your living room; or 10,000 tiny lentils pour out of a bag all over the floor that you were using to make dinner tonight…and you pick them up one by one and put in the soup pot (true story!).

A mom’s job never ends.

But I’m reminded of Psalm 39:6 today: “We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing.”

Our lives are not a race, but moments of time we can redeem. Reminded to slow down and just enjoy my kids, my family, my life and embrace this season of life. Hurrying through life gets me nowhere faster.

There is no better time than now to be thankful and joyful and grateful to God for all of the everyday ordinary moments that make up one life, one family.

Circumstance won’t change heart attitudes or create joy, but thankfulness will and there’s no better time than now.

Feeling thankful. Each day is a gift and an opportunity for greater joy.

Five Minute Friday is a feature over at Lisa-Jo Bakers TALES FROM A GYPSY MAMA blog.

So, let’s do this thing. Let’s write.

Set your timer, clear your head, for five minutes of free writing without worrying about getting it right.

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community..