This past weekend my wife’s parents took our 4 year old for the long weekend. My wife’s sister took our 7 year old and our 5 year old for the long weekend. That left only our 21 month old at home for the weekend. Our normal everyday activities suddenly seemed much easier.
It was not that long ago that I was overwhelmed with the addition of our first child. Things that should have been easy, took on a more difficult nature. Trying to clean the house, or prepare a meal, or study for class was not as easy as it once was because now this little person demanded some of the time I was attempting to focus elsewhere. I can remember thinking, “How do other people do this?” I had a difficult time balancing life with a child, and school, and work, and responsibilities as a husband, and … Eventually I must have gotten the hang of it. But I had the same feelings when child #2 came, and with child #3, and child #4…
My wife and I laughed this past weekend remembering when we thought life with one child was overwhelming. Looking back, we did not realize how easy life really was. At the time, we were not used to another person demanding so much of our time and energy. That was our reality, for a time. Somewhere along this journey we learned how to balance things a little better, to where we were not as overwhelmed. It took us learning from our first child to prepare us for our second. It took us learning from our first and second child to prepare us for our third…
In school some of us had to struggle through addition and subtraction so that we could overcome the problems we faced in Algebra, and geometry. Some of us had to struggle with rules of grammar and spelling to be able to overcome the problem of research papers and thesis’ papers.
Life can get overwhelming. Tasks that should not be difficult, are, because of circumstances we find ourselves in or the choices we have made. When we experience times of difficulty, or find ourselves overwhelmed with the goings on of life, these just might be times that are preparing us for the next chapter of our life!
The stuff we deal with now might feel more like a struggle than an opportunity, but dealing with it just might prepare us for the next opportunity that comes along.
Our difficulties and problems today may really be opportunities for tomorrow. At least that’s what I keep telling myself as we now try to adjust to three kids in school, two kids in soccer, one child in ballet and dance classes, along with school activities, church activities, etc. I wait for the day when we can look back on today and see the bigger picture and notice all the blessings we didn’t notice in the midst of our difficulties.
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