Something happened recently that taught me a much-needed lesson.
Lately, I have been feeling as though I can’t get all of the things done that I would like, or as if my house will never look quite the way I want it to. Between my five-year-old who is learning how to do chores and my one-year-old who is a professional at making messes, my day seems to be filled with just keeping the status quo. Our summer was extremely busy, and now that the whirlwind has died down I just feel like I could use a little guidance to begin this new season.
Flashback to last November: Halloween festivities came to an end and all that remained was a dilapidated carved pumpkin. It was pure laziness that led me to hide the pumpkin in our front yard garden. I figured some animal or bug would come along and eat it up, or maybe the rain would wash it away.
What could possibly go wrong?
Winter came and froze everything as usual. I had long forgotten about my pumpkin. The cold seemed to drag on forever until finally, spring arrived. We went through the usual melting season and there was nothing of note to be seen in my “garden”. I certainly didn’t plant anything since I don’t actually garden! Spring led to summer, of course. I spent the first month of summer in Texas visiting my family and so I didn’t see my front yard for quite a long time.
It was July when we arrived home and immediately I noticed a new plant in our front garden. This wasn’t too surprising, however, because my husband and in-laws made several improvements to our house while we were gone in Texas. I assumed they put a new plant in our garden to make it look nice.
In early August, I was shocked when my husband showed me what he had discovered.
That new plant in the garden? There were TWO humongous pumpkins on it! Then it dawned on me–I left a pumpkin here last year! I did this!
What a strange turn of events! I was really being lazy and just trying to get rid of the pumpkin. My poor choice resulted in the growth of something new and natural, which is an amazing process in itself.
This blunder of mine brought up some really great feelings when I realized what I’d (inadvertently) done. The fact that I had actually grown something in a garden for the first time ever made me elated and giddy. I joked that now I could start calling myself a gardener. I had visions dancing in my head of us carving the pumpkins together or even painting them!
So how does this relate to life?
I learned that even when I feel as though I’m not giving my full 100% of energy to every aspect of my life, beautiful things can still happen. My day doesn’t have to be filled with “perfect” activities or projects. It’s okay if some days I have to take things easy. I’m learning that it’s okay to feel like this mom-life is challenging.
I’m going to try to find fun where I can in our routines. I’m going to embrace the less-than-perfect days. It’s so easy to feel pressured to be “on my game” all the time and to do everything just right. But that’s not how life works, and I’m thankful for that.
Have you ever inadvertently done something that turned into a beautiful lesson?
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