Any parent of young children knows what it’s like to be interrupted. A lot.
Crying newborns. Urgent potty trips. Stomach bugs. Hungry tummies. Big messes. Little-kid squabbles. New pregnancies. Children with a sixth sense for needing something as soon as you get on the phone.
He tells us that what we do for the least of His children, we do for Him. Every single day, I am interrupted by God many times in the form of these people He has given me to love and serve.
Family life can be a particularly intense school of holiness. So much of my daily life as a wife and mother tests my spiritual strengths and weaknesses. (Have you ever tried to clean homemade slime off computer equipment? See below.) But exercising my patience in the small moments of family life has helped me to be more patient with more serious interruptions in my life.
As mature adult Christians, we have to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. We have to try our best to discern His will and to make responsible plans accordingly. But then there’s the fine line to walk of not over-planning our lives. We have to be open to letting Him drop changes into our laps. New directions. New people. New babies. Closing doors. Opening doors. Busy times. Quiet times. Times of sickness. Times of plenty. Times of need.
I’d have loved for my life so far to be nice and linear (but it hasn’t been, at times). I’d love at this moment to know what X, Y and Z in my life will look like in ten years.
I have learned, though, that God writes straight with crooked lines. While tested occasionally, that knowledge gives my life a wonderful sort of underlying steadiness.
This quote from St. Teresa of Calcutta has stayed up on my kitchen chalkboard for months now:
We are at Jesus’ disposal. If he wants you to be sick in bed, if he wants you to proclaim his work in the street, if he wants you to clean toilets all day, that’s all right. Everything is all right. We must say, ‘I belong to you. You can do whatever you like.’ And this is our strength. This is the joy of the Lord.”
Love this! A great thing to remember everyday as a wife and mother. I might also have to put this quote up on our refrigerator! Ha!
Hi Erin, thank you so much for this post! It was only yesterday when I literally burst into tears during my confession because I felt so helpless and weak and overloaded with my daily duties (wife, mum, two little girls, PhD – just pick one). I’m pretty sure everyone in church heard me sobbing. Your post gave me a new perspective. I never thought about these small interruptions, which usually change my plans completely, as God’s plan. I must say there’s son comfort in that 😊
Wow! You have a lot on your plate right now! And yes–there is so much comfort in remembering that God is orchestrating things in our lives. One of my very favorite books is a fairly quick read entitled “Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence.” I highly recommend it! I go back to that little book again and again, and it reminds me that God loves me and has reasons and plans and use for everything that happens to me. Such a treasure of a book for a weary mom.:)
Thank you for the suggestion Erin. I’ll definitely search for that book. I must say I really admire what you are doing (and all the other ladies commenting here). I truly envy you your deep spirituality and how you teach your children to live with God. I’m Catholic raised in a Catholic family and in a Catholic country (Poland) but I never experienced such deep spirituality. And I never hear anyone talking with such joy and easiness about their Faith. I feel ashamed now by what I considered appropriate then. I know it takes practice to get there but I hope I get there eventually.