Joy in the Ordinary: Life Lessons from the School of Motherhood

It sounds so dull doesn't it? Finding joy in the ordinary. Its the sort of thing you'd expect to have been preached to a 1950s housewife. In many ways, modern society fights against it -

"Be extraordinary!"

"Change the world!"

"Make your life count!"

 And yet these words draw me in... they call to my soul and I want to live them, breath them, turn them over and over in my mind as I get on with the monotony of the everyday...

And when I step back, I realise its become one of my life goals. I remember the dark days when our Heidi was desperately ill and all I wanted, all I longed for, all I prayed for was to be ordinary.

I was desperate for the monotony of an ordinary life.

The extraordinary was costly. Painful. Lonely. And far too eventful for this desperate young mother to cope with.

And I think its probably true to say our journey with Heidi has changed me. I try every day to be thankful for the little things. Those boring, ordinary moments, that were so nearly taken away from us. How can you not be? How can I not praise God for every one of her snotty noses I wipe, every time she wakes up from a nap; rosy-cheeked and grumpy. Every time those little sisters play fight a step too far, and someone ends in tears.

Every tomato sauce stained top I have to wash, every dolly I have to redress, every story I have to read, every midnight cry I have to settle. All reminders of the beautiful gift of daughters. A gift we very nearly lost.

And so I seek daily to delight in the ordinary... to proactively seek to thank God for every task that I could label mundane, boring, monotonous, as well as the golden moments. And to nip any frustration, resentment, annoyance in the bud.

I fail. Daily.

I get annoyed. I shout at the kids. I over-react. I am ungrateful and anxious at times. And sometimes I can't quite bat away the "if onlys..."

But I preach this little phrase to myself daily.

Find joy in the ordinary.


It is the secret to a happy life.

"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

I can do all things through Him who gives me strength"

- Philippians 4:12-13 -

Amen

Find out more about the Christian faith here.