If you stopped by and had tea with me today, I'd welcome you in. I'd take your coat and draw you into the kitchen, amidst the deep-throated barks of Jake and Rory and the squeals and giggles of the Blossoms. Most folks elect to settle around our kitchen island when we have tea together.
Once our hands are hugging mugs of our favorite cuppa, the conversation meanders. We chit-chat about your Thanksgiving and what your kids thought of the recent snow; we might even talk about yesterday.
Yesterday was an exhausting day. A million details and logistics were being juggled by the Chief Domestic Engineer of this place (me), since the last two weeks were very busy with no really break in the action.
And the Blossoms have a million questions about every thing that's upcoming. Because there were so many balls in the air and so many details to discuss and so many Blossoms asking me questions thirty times a day, I'm really make an effort to keep them in the loop at breakfast. You could call it a morning meeting, I suppose. It's a really simple step that helped this mama not be overwhelmed by questions, details and all the things I must handle and figure out.
Why is this important to me? The girls can't contribute and help, unless they know details. They are people, valuable people. I never want them to feel that I'm too tired for them.
I'm super thankful for mercy. I had a couple stops to make yesterday and when I stopped at my favorite bargain Amish store, I used my last check. This is only a big deal because there were butchered chickens to be picked up next at the Amish butcher.
I was mortified when I realized that they did not accept cards and I truly had no way to pay to pick up my meat. Since I've done business with the butcher on numerous occasions, he let me take my chickens and send the check in the mail. For a busy mama, this small bit of mercy meant an awful lot. When I receive these moments of mercy, they are concreted in my mind. I am immensely grateful and, hopefully, graciously ready to extend them to others.
Friend, in every day, busy or calm, we can drown in the details and the mistakes, or we can see the mercy and share it.
