Simply Being

(Having children who are completely desensitized to the fact that you are again carrying a camera around allows you to snap shots like this, which would otherwise be impossible.)

I had mentioned here that I believe one of the things the Lord wants me to focus on something this year is Being. Much of our lives, if we are not consciously choosing otherwise, can be swept along year after year in Doing. As moms, this is so easy. We need to do the laundry, do the dishes, do the floors and windows, do my Bible study, do the lesson plans for our school, etc., etc., etc. As necessary as those things are, am I simply going through the motions so that I can check another item off my To Do list?

Because I am easily distracted and my best intentions derailed, the Lord faithfully provides opportunities to refocus, rededicate, recommit.

Since Christmas, I can honestly say that we have been in the midst of one of the strangest "seasons" yet. What with the continuing laundry saga, my bizarre two weeks of looking at life from a horizontal position, and now with the lingering "fall-out" of having four children sick simultaneously (a new record here), we seem to be in a holding pattern. 

For six weeks?! 

The four kids are on the mend, but yesterday a new, previously healthy one succumbed. I have been sleeping in our family room for over a week now with two of the sickest ones so that I can fire up the nebulizer each time another coughing fit commences. Kregg is out of town, and I am thankful his exposure is limited. Of course, school is on hold. They can't really figure out a math problem when their head is throbbing to the point that their eyes cross (not really). 

And so, this morning, I was thinking (as I sit here looking into the lovely face of my youngest who has taken to stuffing the end of a kleenex up her right nostril and simply leaving it there for large blocks of time to serve as a plug). 


As our wonderful schedule has been off and on all of 2011, it dawned on me that I am learning more about Being. The fact that our normally efficient routine has come to a screeching halt has put an exclamation point on simply Being! Being still and knowing. He is in control. He is sufficient. We have what we need. 

And if I truly believe that what He allows us to walk through is the most loving way He can accomplish His will in me, then this season of "enforced stillness" is an opportunity for me to see His Plan and Work more clearly. And I almost missed it. A few days ago, I was just feeling kinda weepy, kinda testy, and really weary. But that was when I was drumming my fingers (symbolically speaking), impatiently waiting for everyone to get well so we could "get back to normal." 

Just how thick is my head? (Don't answer that!)


Why am I still so slow to see it?

All of these circumstances that are completely outside my control are simply a way the Lord uses to deepen my understanding of what He can accomplish in us without my "carefully laid plans" for how our weeks should look. I can simply accept this season in trust, knowing that He will faithfully accomplish what He desires. If our homeschooling doesn't start back up for another couple of days that doesn't mean this time is wasted. It's only wasted if I fail to seek His Face and if I don't allow Him to "drive."

Kregg just texted me from wherever he is on his business trip asking me "what's going on" here this morning. I told him "not much". And it is a fairly new feeling for me to be able to say that without a twinge of guilt because we're not Doing, we're just Being.

II Peter 1:3 says this:
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.


And so, as I sit here listening to the cacophony of children coughing in chorus, I will focus on learning this lesson of Being well. Hopefully, that way I won't have to repeat it. At least not this variation. :) But even if it takes me several rounds, I will thank Him because He knows best. And as far as illness goes, this really is not a big deal.