The grass is always greener
Last night Kabob and I were both exhausted. I could barely keep my eyes open at 8:30 p.m. because I think last weekend and this week finally caught up with me. I was explaining this to him, and he said, “Why don’t we switch jobs tomorrow? Why don’t you fight traffic all day, deal with snobby rich homeowners, and phyiscally exert yourself at dusty jobsites; I’ll stay at home and play with our adorable baby all day.” (He was joking around, by the way, he wasn’t being a jerk.) To which I said, “Okay, I’ll drive around alone all day and drive through Starbucks whenever I feel like it, I’ll work in beautiful 20,000 square-foot mansions, and I’ll interact with other adults; you can stay jailed in a 1,000 square-foot box with a 20 pound magnet who poops and drools on you, and proceeds to cry every time you leave her sight for five seconds.”
Then we went on with whatever we were doing, but it got me thinking that as exhausting and sometimes ungratifying my job can be, there really are so many perks. I love that I can pretty much wear my pajamas until about 10 a.m., and no one will care (I guess I could technically wear them longer, if I wanted to). My daughter, for the most part, has a very sweet disposition and is pretty easygoing. I can meet friends at the park, and it’s actually beneficial to Chickpea to get outside. She’s healthy (so I guess that poop and drool is a sign of proper plumbing). I can catch the “Today Show” if I make a point of it. I, too, can get out and fight traffic, if I really wanted to. Now granted, I’m carrying with me in the car a time bomb that can detonate without warning, but this time bomb can also entertain herself contentedly if she tries. And probably most helpful, she’s very extroverted and social, like her mama, which means we ARE able to leave the house and get things done without totally throwing a wrench in our well-oiled routine. In fact, that helps both of our sanities.
All this is important for me to remember on those evenings when the mere thought of getting out of bed to do the same thing – again – that I did yesterday and the day before and the day before and the day before, wipes me out before I begin. All of us have jobs that are frustrating sometimes. All of us wish we could trade lives just for a few hours. But really, most of us are well-positioned to do the job with which we’re appointed. I know I’d go crazy at Kabob’s job before too long, and he’d go nuts at mine. So I think I’ll just stay in my pjs right now.
posted: 05 November 4
under:
That’s funny. As soon as I started reading Kyle’s comment I got immediately defensive for you, until you said he was joking. Aaron and I have an agreement that we just don’t discuss who has the harder job because it is a futile argument/discussion. I know even when I’ve had a horrible day and I’m completely emotionally and physically exhausted, I wouldn’t choose to do anything else. (And man is it ten times easier now than it was two years ago!)
When I was in seminary, I was pregnant with my first child. One day I came home from class and found a note on my door from the Mom who lived across the hall from us. The note simply said, “Never lose sight of the big picture in raising children.” You see, we are not just changing diapers, or wiping up spilled milk for the third time that day, or comforting a crying baby. Rather we are nurturing and building lives to the glory of God. It is such “uneventful days of faithfulness” that really matter. To create a tapestry one must do it one stitch at a time. Each stitch may not look like much, but when the tapestry is completed, the result is a beautiful work of art. It is the same with motherhood. Every small routine task (Elisabeth Elliot calls this “the humble acceptance of small duties”) contributes to the big picture. In light of that, I would propose that nothing we mothers do is ordinary, all is extraordinary! And now looking back (I have a teen and a preteen), I have only joy in the “calling” God gave to me to influence these lives for His glory and their well-being.