{the eastern sky.}

Recently, I have felt myself becoming overwhelmed with the dailyness of life. It is exhausting- trying to keep it all straight. In this house, we have 2 busy, busy littles. One of whom has just found his voice {excessive squealing} and is exercising the various pitches he discovered it can make when paired with an array of situations that range anywhere from extreme delight to pure frustration to simply a "demonstration" of his new hobby.

The other little has discovered he has a will that has need of enforcing. An opinion. A mind of his own. A way that is better than all other ways. And his way of "demonstration" would not run along the lines of "force" or even a "tantrum" of sorts, his "demonstration" is nicely masked with negotiations that appear in all shapes and forms ranging from sweet talking the current problem to determining that he can keep himself awake at nap time. Oh, yes. He can. {This momma is working on winning that battle.}

The last few weeks around here have been emotionally draining. And from what I can tell, this feeling is normal for a Mom in my stage of life. But I don't feel hopeless about it. I do occasionally feel frazzled and I do occasionally get on the phone to my own Mom and tell her I'm running away.

 

Sometimes, it can be so exhausting keeping it all straight:

Consistent parenting is the key! {But what about this particular incident? I didn't find it listed on page 42 in the handbook.}

Be on the same page as your spouse when parenting! {Well, YES! That's nice! But what about when your child has you mildly worked against each other on an issue you have not yet even discussed? Is it possible for a 2.5 yr. old to even DO THAT?!?!}

Keep the punishment in line with the misdeed. {How did I miss the publishing of this guideline?!?}

Use every opportunity to train! {When it seems every moment is an opportunity, that means... no rest, weary Momma.}

Always be patient! {Just simply go in the closet and shut the door to scream. That's all that means.}

PRAY! {Yes. ALL THE TIME, in fact.}

 

You get my point. It is just so overwhelming sometimes to try to constantly parent correctly, do the RIGHT thing in the EVERY situation, and always know how to handle the DAILYNESS that life hands you.

 

But last week. I had this beautiful revelation which brought EVERYTHING back into perspective. {I'm not saying that in my mind things haven't gotten out of perspective on occasion since this revelation.} I was driving along. My car was pointed perfectly EAST. Me and the boys were coming home from a quick jaunt to the greenhouse {A.K.A some fresh air for everyone after a stressful morning cooped up in the house}, and all of the sudden, my heart was completely caught up in this thought:

 

 

 As the sun rises in the East,

 So He shall split the eastern sky,

 Sword in hand upon the mountain,

 Fire of Heaven in His eye...

And every knee shall bow,

 Every knee shall bow,

 We kneel before Him now,

AND EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW...

 

 

 

 

 

HOW did I get SO FAR off track? Why was it such a REVELATION to have this thought? Why am I not more eternally focused on a day-to-day basis? Forget the laundry! I have WARRIORS to train in JESUS name! {Ok, realistically, life must go on.} But, seriously, when I looked up at the sky as I was driving straight East, and I pictured the sky SPLITTING, and pictured HIM returning for HIS people, suddenly the parenting stress I had been feeling just literally vanished. NOTHING else in that moment mattered except keeping my EYES on HIM, keeping my LIFE in perspective with eternal things, and training my boys in the ways of the LORD!

There are no easy answers to parenting. There are no easy answers to ornery little boys. There are just no easy answers to anything in this life.

But for me? I'm going to try to enjoy my temporary life more than ever, train my precious, precious littles to JESUS to the best of my ability with CONSTANT reliance on HIM, and keep my eyes focused on the EASTERN SKY.