Delighting in the Ordinary

One of my favorite Christian authors and speakers is Juli Ann Barnhill! Have you heard of her? She wrote "She's Gonna Blow" as well as other great mommy books! In one of her talks, she tells moms how important it is to delight in the ordinary. Just think about that for a moment! That is something that has resonated with me for the last 3 years. I have struggled with expecting perfection from my imperfect kids. My 1st born doesn't make straight A's by no fault of her but because a learning disability. OUCH. My son is SHY which means playing ball is overwhelming to him. OUCH. My youngest throws fits in public STILL. OUCH. Anyways, you get my point. So, daily I remind myself that I MUST delight in the ordinary things to stay sane and in a joyful place in my life as a mother. It is great if my son makes his bed by putting the comforter on horizontally instead of vertically. At least he made the effort! It is okay if we don't have any areas of olympic qualifying abilities. We are just trying to find our way to the talents and purposes that God has planned for us. It just takes some of us longer than others......... maybe even a lifetime. In the meantime, I will delight in the ordinary, and if something extraordinary happens along the way, we will really celebrate!

Here is the story I love so much that inspired today's thoughts:

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by
Emily Perl Kingsley.

c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.