You can call me crazy, but I’m truly grateful every time one of my kids spills a liquid on our kitchen floor. I love it. It’s like I’m giving the green light, a free pass, to clean the floor. I know it’s kind of strange, but I find myself feeling thankful as I’m wiping up that light birch wood floor…and watching it sparkle again.
In our home, with four little ones six and under there are LOTS of spills. And I mean LOTS. (see that caps? and the color change? that is to give BIG emphasis…:)….) When I was a younger, more rookie mom, I’d get frustrated with those spills. As much as I tried to remember “not to cry over spilled milk” I’d find myself aggravated that I had to stop my current plans to do this new plan.
Isn’t that what being a mother, or a parent is? Parenting is a lesson in giving of yourself, your wants, and your needs. As I type this I’m looking at my little Samuel jumping up and down in his Exersaucer. And it’s early. Much, much earlier than when I would want to get up. Yet, I’m awake. For him. We’ve already had our morning snuggle, and diaper change, and now for just a bit he’s content and playing. So I’m writing, with my warm Keurig Caribou coffee in hand (and on Hannah’s laptop…shhhhhhh….) about spills. Why?
Life can be good. Even when there’s spilled milk.
Spilled milk, or water, or juice (water is my fave…one less step to clean) used to be bobby pin moments. You know, those times where I’d need to regroup (pull in a DQ parking lot), and reset my day. Somehow my heart has changed to looking at those puddles as a little blessing…a gift. That area of my floor will be clean. It might not be the whole thing, but I can guarantee when someone stops by unannounced that there will be 2×3 sections of my floor that are spotless! I feel like, in some ways, the Lord knows how much I hate a dirty floor and I’m getting this free moment to clean it. I normally wouldn’t have time, and yet, I’m forced to get on my hands and knees to wipe it clean. Then…back to the craziness.
A couple of weeks ago, early in the morning, I got my Caleb a bowl of cereal. As I reached to set it down I completely missed setting it on the table. Completely. It flipped over, cereal and milk flew through the air and splattered all over the floor and my freshly painted wall. The kitchen became silent. Not a noise. Caleb and Elijah stared at me…waiting to see how I’d respond. So I laughed. And they laughed. And I cleaned my floor, got some new cereal, and started my day.
Joyful.
14 comments
Beautiful post!
Rachel, Nicely written and
well thought out – i agree 100%. Look forward to reading past posts as well, i feel like minded and know i can learn a lot from you – so glad i found your site on BLOGFROG! Look forward to more posts and finding joy in being content. i desire to look forward to spills as well, with kiddos 2 & 3…spills, messes, and just plain chaos is the norm?! *smile* i would not trade being ‘Mommy’ for the world. sg
Love your beautiful perspective! What a great blog name, my FAV so far! i always say the two greatest gift my mother gave me were the ability to be content and to be a good steward of what i have been given. GREAT BLOG!!!
Hi Rachel! Thanks for visiting my blog (and stealing my blog title! Ha! 😉 ).
I love this post – with two 3 year-olds and a mobile baby, we’ve got lots of spills too. The saying in our family when someone makes a spill is “No biggie.” Spills remind me to be thankful for my kids, because it means that I HAVE kids!
I can’t wait to read more of your posts!
Wow! You are an inspiration. I love that you are now grateful for the spills and laughed when the cereal fell. You are setting such a great example for your children. This was an amazing post.
Rachel, you continue to inspire me and push me to finding my own joy. I can’t say that when my youngest spill I am laughing about it. I think I a more the bobby pin, but this really helps to put it all into perspective. Thank you!
Hi Rachel:) It was so nice of you to stop my blog and say hello. I wanted to say hello to you too:) And I loved this post~what a wonderful perspective you have!
Have a nice day!
Traci
Rachel…This post is a beautiful ‘JOYFUL’ ode to MotherHood!! You really ‘get’ it!!! xoxoxox
i love how you laughed when you spilled the cereal. it’s so much sweeter to live through oopsies moments like that with a little laugh! aw… i adore the feeling and look of freshly cleaned floors! last week i became obesessed with cleaning the floors – i cleaned them 4 times. it must be nesting or something. i guarantee that will not be happening this week. ; ) happy saturday, sweet thing!
Thanks for stopping by my blog! Because you did, I clicked over to day hello…and I needed to read this today. It’s a much better response and attitude than I tend to have. Thanks for the reminder and the fresh outlook.
Rachel,
And what a great picture of Christ your children are getting, when you laugh, instead of ____. Praise the Lord, because that is definitely the wonderful work of the Spirit! Thanks for sharing this. It reminds me of Romans 12, which our church is memorizing right now, “Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Sometimes, when something so outlandish and improbable as missing the table completely, happens to me:) I realize satan is really trying too hard, like when the 10th thing (improbably impossibly stupid thing) has gone wrong in a really short period of time, and recognizing this, just as I’m about to lose it, I stop, and thank God instead: like, Thank you, God, that I just did that, and spilled cereal and milk all over this room!
(Immediately changes the attitude:)
I’m going to copy you, and thank God when I spill something next time, because of my soon-to-be clean 2×3 spot of floor!
Blessings,
Wendy @ Faith’s Firm Foundation
My daughter dropped a pickle jar in the kitchen tonight…wanna come clean the floor?
Whether we can see it or not, the Lord is always working! Always praying!
Romans 8:27-28 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Prayer Bears
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I’m not one to be happy about those interruptions, especially when it comes to the spills. I remember when my children were still really young and we were just getting started with homeschooling, there was a day when root beer got spilled all over the table. I was in tears over it! I wanted everything perfect, you know like those families on the front cover of the homeschooling magazine where all the children’s clothes match — even match the curtains? Tonight we had two spills. I got perturbed when the bottle of carrot juice landed at my feet and splattered everywhere. Yes, I had to get out the mop and actually clean a nice 4’x6′ section of the floor for that one (with company about the arrive). However, I guess I still needed practice responding correctly because soon we had another spill. This time I spilled a huge bowl of water all over the floor while trying to demonstrate lettuce washing to my daughter. This time I laughed. What’s another wet towel??? Yeah! Progress–after all these years.
Great post. Sometimes all you can do is laugh.