It's Mother's Day in my part of the world tomorrow and I've been pondering on how quickly the years have gone by and how big all our children have gotten. One of the things I've discovered as a Mum of six is that we often want our whole day to be great, with not a single mishap, disagreement, or difficulty, but that just doesn't usually happen in the real world.
To keep it all in perspective, I've learned that God wants us to focus on the moments we want to remember and be thankful for and to know that sometimes the less than perfect moments are the ones we learn the most from, or that God uses to bring people together and to pleasantly surprise us.
A great example of this is when we travelled to Europe a few years ago with five of our children, and we had a series of unexpected moments which didn't go to plan. I fainted on a London train as we were organising to pick up our vehicle to take us to the Lakes District in England. We had all our accommodation booked for the night. However, the paramedic at the train station took one look at me and said, "I think you are all going to get stuck in weekend traffic for 5-6 hours; go to Wales instead." So we set off to Wales, which was only two hours away. Unfortunately, on arrival, we discovered every form of accommodation was booked out for the night, and we had nowhere to sleep. Not a great moment! Left with no alternative, we chose to sleep all seven of us in the car, or should I say small bus.
The funny this is if you ask our children today what moments they remember from our trip, they would say their night sleeping in the car was a highlight. They will all start laughing and retelling their side of the story, who sleeps weird, and who doesn't. Our eldest son Ben will declare the loudest that he slept in the boot!
Through our night in the car, a lot of squabbling about who had to share a room with whom was sorted out, and a new appreciation for a comfy bed was developed. Perspective and thankfulness are brilliant, and it's in these memorable moments that we often discover them even when things don't go to plan.
The bible says to give thanks in everything. That doesn't mean we thank God for the terrible things and see them as something He has sent us. Instead, it means that IN everything, we give thanks and remember He is with us and promises He can and will turn things around for us, and to never let go of our confidence in His love and goodness towards us.
"In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. "(1 Thessalonians 5:18)
I'm learning that we shouldn't write off a day just because some annoying or bad things happen within it. God is phenomenal at making all things work together for our good, and it's wisdom for us to stop, breathe, trust, and look for Him to make everything all right.
We may need to leave some moments and experiences with Jesus to fix in our lives, whilst others we can sit back and enjoy. Either way, let's determine to love the gift of each moment we have been given and trust God with them all.
"Life is made up of moments. Moments create days, days create months, months create years, and years create life. So enjoy the moments!"
Prayer: Lord, thank you that you have my life in your hands and that everything is going to be all right with you. Please help me enjoy the great moments in my day and stop and be thankful for them. When not so great moments occur, please also help me to give them over to you. In Jesus Name Amen.
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