Listen her BUTTERCUP, I’m tired, mad and frustrate and I don’t even think Calgon could make this situation any better. So if you don’t want to hear someone ranting this morning then you need to grab your beverage and move on because I’m going to the porch because I got a story to tell.
Some days, family life is messy. Not the cute kind of messy that makes a funny story later. The real kind. The kind where everybody seems stressed at the same time, everybody has something going on, and you find yourself wondering what you can say without making somebody upset.
Lately, I’ve felt like I’m walking on tiptoes in my own home. There are things weighing on me as a mom. Things I have talked about more times than I can count. Things I wish were different. Things that I know I cannot fix for somebody else, no matter how much I worry, remind, encourage, or pray.
Then there are the everyday responsibilities that somehow keep finding their way back to me. The dogs still need to be cared for. The house still needs to be taken care of. The dishes don’t care if you’re frustrated. The laundry doesn’t care if you’re tired. The jobs don’t care if someone things you don’t work.
And sometimes you reach a point where you think, “Can somebody please just help me without me having to ask?” David has been carrying his own stress from work. Some days he doesn’t even know which way is up.
I know that when he walks through the door, he is bringing some of that stress home with him even when he doesn’t mean to. And then something small happens. A bowl gets moved. Something gets changed without asking. Somebody gets frustrated.
A simple conversation turns into something bigger than it needed to be. And suddenly you’re standing there thinking, “How did we get here?” That’s the part of family life people don’t always talk about. We love each other. That doesn’t mean we always understand each other.
We can love someone deeply and still be frustrated with them. We can be exhausted and still care. We can need help and still not know how to ask for it. We can be angry about something that happened five minutes ago and still want everybody sitting around the table together at dinnertime.
That’s family. It isn’t perfect. And neither am I. Sometimes I have to step back and remind myself that I don’t have to solve everybody else’s problems. I can encourage. I can pray. I can ask for help. I can take care of the things that truly need taking care of.
But I cannot make another person make a different choice. That’s a hard lesson for a mom. We spend so much of our lives trying to protect our families, guide our children, keep everybody fed, keep the house running, take care of the pets, remember appointments, worry about work, worry about money, worry about tomorrow…
And sometimes we simply get tired. Really tired. So today I’m reminding myself that I am allowed to be frustrated without giving up on my family. I’m allowed to say that something isn’t working. I’m allowed to want peace in my own home. I’m allowed to need help.
And I’m allowed to step away for a minute, take a breath, pray, and remember that I don’t have to carry everything all by myself. Because underneath all the frustration is still love. That’s what makes family complicated. That’s also what makes family worth fighting for.
So maybe today isn’t about fixing everything. Maybe today is about taking one thing at a time. One dog. One load of laundry. One blog post. One conversation. One prayer. One deep breath. And trusting God with the things I cannot control.
“Fully Rely on God.” Sometimes that’s not just a saying on my printable. Sometimes that’s exactly what I have to do. To remain Grateful, Thankful, and Blessed — even on the days when I’m frustrated, tired, and walking on tiptoes.
GreatfulMoments.com
Lord, help me… I’m drowning.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
