Mama's Thoughts

It was midnight. I was lying in my bed but not really sleeping. The hassles of my life were jogging laps around my brain.
Would our finances ever balance out?
Are my teenagers coping with the pitfalls of such a complicated stage of life?
Am I giving all I can?
Will I ever catch up with the daily tasks that endlessly pile up before I can sweep or wash or fold and put away?
Sleep didn't have a chance in the race and then an interruption.
The squeak of my name which usually echoes through the night at least once from my clan. And I stumbled from my bed to solve the next crisis.
It was Milo. He was thirsty. An he wanted ICE water. So I continued my half-sleep walk to the kitchen and as I opened the freezer door the realization hit me like a glacier crashing into the sea...I CAN get my baby ice water.

Some mamas have to walk a mile to get their babies a drink.
Some mamas have to give in and provide dirty water that they know
could make their children sick.
Some mamas have to weep at the begging voice of a thirsty little one
for they have nothing to give.
But I could get a clean glass, turn on a faucet, plunk in a few ice cubes and deliver to not even parched lips.
And in light of this, what did I really have to worry about?

It was a few weeks later that I got my copy of the book "One Thousand Gifts"
for a study at church.
Sunday afternoon flew by as the words settled over me like a sweet salve to my soul.
You know when that happens?
Everybody fend for yourselves...Mama's lost in a book.
The book is written by a mom of six. Smothered in dirty socks and crusty dishes.
And she begins to track all of the little things that make her life so sweet.
A journal of gratitude that shifts the focus from worry and stress to an acknowledgment and
thankfulness to God for what is amazing, right before her eyes.

And so as I turned the last page, I opened my own journal and wrote the first enty:
1. Ice cold water in the middle of the night.

From Holly Kurtzer