The other day I was at a birthday party with my boys and while they were happily enjoying pizza and cake, I began chatting with another mom.
We talked about our kids and then I asked her to tell me the story of how she met her husband.  She spoke so sweetly about her man and went on to say what an amazing dad he is.

I asked her if she and her husband wanted to have any more children and she said, “Well, we have been trying but that just hasn’t worked out for us.”
My heart squeezed.  I know all about infertility.  It was 4 years before God gave us the Happy Buddy.
I said, “Girl, I am so sorry.  That is so hard.”
And you know what she said?
“Yeah, it is, I guess.  But I don’t like focusing on it because I don’t want it to seem that we are not thankful for what we have.”
She gestured to her adorable son who had cake icing and crumbs all around his mouth.
“He’s so great,” she said with a smile, “He’s enough.”

As we were driving home from the party, I couldn’t stop thinking about her words.
I feel like I have become a very fussy person in the last couple of years.
Whenever something difficult crosses my path (which is about 700 times a day) I find myself muttering, “UGH! Really??? This is SO hard!”
I humbly confess to you that in the most private pockets of my heart I think I have this prideful attitude that feels I have been through enough hard things and deserve some kind of break or period of ease.

HA!

Life is not that way, is it?

There are still lunches to pack, kids to discipline and train, a spouse to love and serve well, dinner to make, laundry to fold, toilets to scrub (oh wait, I don’t do that)… There are still ants procreating in my car, bills to pay, my full-time job, sick kids, and the burdening business of figuring out how to reduce the size of my pores.

Ah, but this precious woman’s words rang in my heart like the final chord of the worship team at church on Sunday.

Focusing on the hard of our day can close our eyes to all the good.

Yes, life is hard.  No doubt about that. But…

I HAVE KIDS. Two precious ones. Oh, raising them is no picnic and they make me frequently mentally escape to private islands in the Bahamas, but they give me purpose and joy every morning.

My job, while it is a different life than the one I had as a stay at home mom, it is still a good one. I am able to see my kids and my husband throughout the day. I am able to relieve my sweet, hard-working husband of financial stress.

My messy house as a place that is a reflection of a full and busy life being lived with people that I love.

Those $4.99 rotisseries from Costco are the blessed answer for those nights when I am mentally and physically unable to make sense of a recipe card.

A persistent health issue is simply another reminder to fix my gaze on Christ and the perfection and glory and hope of heaven.

Thank you, God.

My favorite story in the Bible is from Acts 16.
Paul and Silas have just been stripped of their clothes, beaten with rods, and flogged because of the Truth they were sharing and the miracles they were performing in the name of Jesus.
They were then thrown in jail – to the furthest, most inner cell – and their feet were fastened in stocks.

At this point, my fussing about exceptionally large pores and ant problems seems KIND OF FRIVOLOUS.

Paul and Silas could have sighed and cried and hung their heads and complained about how hard it was to be follower of Christ.
But do you know what they did?

Paul and Silas began praying and singing hymns to God.
They weren’t focused on the hard.
They were focused on the GOD.
The God who had saved and rescued and comforted them time and time again.
The God who had given them {{given us}} His Word, His Presence, HIS SON.
The God who was and is absolutely enough.  Even in the hard.

Can we focus on that?  Can we stop grumbling about the things that we have been entrusted with, and can we find something to sing about in the midst of it?

What (small or big) good things in your family’s life can you focus on today?