The lady at the grocery store...

You are at the grocery store with your three children all under the age of 5... what was supposed to be a trip for milk and eggs turned into a cartful of random groceries and crabby kids. Every 5 minutes someone is asking to buy something with cartoon characters on the front, the baby grabs the loaf of bread and is smashing it up, your 2 year old has to go to the bathroom twice in the 20 minutes you are at the store and you finally get to the checkout line... sweet light at the end of the tunnel. You start unloading your groceries and a little older lady behind you says something to the effect of, "oh, I remember those days! Enjoy them because before you know it they are gone and your kids are all grown-up like mine"... and if you are feeling friendly you will smile and nod but deep down you are annoyed. This lady doesn't remember how hard it is with little kids. Enjoy it? I am just trying to survive it!

I am not sure if this scenario has ever happened to you... or anything similar. But, I have seen some similar articles online about things like this and I can totally relate personally.But, I think the reality is... the lady at the store isn't saying that to belittle what you are doing. She isn't saying it because she doesn't know how hard it is to raise little ones. In fact, she probably did it with more kids and without the advantages of Disney Jr. and microwave chicken nuggets at her disposal. She knows how hard it is... But, she is trying to point you to the bigger picture... And the bigger picture is that we really will miss these days. The bigger picture is that our children really are only little for a short window of time. And the bigger picture is that children aren't given to us to burden us and weigh us down.

In reality, most of us chose (and were given that opportunity by the grace of God) to be mom's. Motherhood is not a prison sentence that someone put on us. It is a blessing and an opportunity to love hard and serve well.

I am not saying it is always easy. I am right there in the trenches with all of you and I know that there can be hard moments. Really hard moments. But, if we can make the effort to keep our eyes on the bigger picture and keep our focus there I know that we will all have the opportunity to truly enjoy these years. And instead of being annoyed with the lady in the super market we should be thanking her for pointing us back to the right place...

I am linking up at Growing Home and Women Living Well!