I hope you are enjoying these Monday Moments with Mimi! I know I am!!! This week's post is all about my Energizer Bunny of a "little" sister. Read and enjoy! And be encouraged! As moms, teachers, humans--sometimes we just get TIRED! But sometimes "pushing through" can lead to an even greater blessing! Thanks for joining us on the journey! Shannon :-)
Muffin Pans
and Banners
Last night I
received a picture from my youngest daughter of a banner with my name signed by
her. The banner was signed in honor of
me at her annual Light the Night cancer walk.
I smiled and shook my head when I received her message—how does she do
it all? Soccer mom, ballet mom,
supportive wife, church worker, household financial contributor, and wonderful
daughter!!!
I know what
kind of a week she has had, and yet she still is going strong, just like the
Energizer Bunny…probably stronger.
Not too long
ago I was at her house on a Friday evening.
And truthfully, I don’t know on that particular Friday night just how
strong she was going, but she was still going none the less.
I need to
give a shout out to both of my girls in that they have an endless amount of “Doingness”—with
a capital D (my word.) Both of my girls are
like the Energizer Bunny. Even when all else are at rest, they are still marching and
beating their drums in the wee hours in order to complete their intended tasks,
as if on a marching and beating assignment.
But as I reflect on this
particular Friday, I am recalling the catch phrase, push
through, that my youngest said to me a year or so ago when I was visiting. I
do want to give you a bit of the back story of this night. I was not just visiting her, but assisting her
in a project with a sensitive, important deadline. We had already
had an extremely busy day. The evening continued,
just as eventfully, and I was fading fast.
At last, we
had the kids in bed and were finally calmly sipping coffee, drinking skim milk,
and eating chocolate chip muffins that we had made. The day was drawing quickly
to its close—for me. Whatever we had left in disarray around the
house could be straightened in the morning.
I was
fine, perfectly fine, with the few dirty dishes remaining on the counter, as
well as a few dirty glasses left in the den.
The dirty
muffin pan on my daughter’s stove top did not produce in me any great anxiety
as it sat there unwashed. On
the other hand, rinsing it and loading it in the dishwasher would not have
given me any great sense of peace either. I was
totally neutral when it came to the muffin pan. All household chores could wait for the dawn
of a another new, busy, eventful day. I
knew that if I waited, I (as the proverbial Energizer Bunny’s assistant) would
be recharged and ready for action again after a good 6 hours of sleep.
But then to my surprise…my daughter started getting the
kitchen ready for the morning. Yes, she gathered all the dishes up, loaded them
in the dishwasher, and the race was on again!!!! Yet, it was not her tasks that were worth noting
that night, but rather her words to me.
“Mom, sometimes you have to just
push through.”
What I have
to appreciate about these words is not their familiar reference to perseverance,
endurance, and stamina. I know these
words and their meaning. Most of us
claim to live out these words in our faith and our lives over the long haul.
But it’s often
the moments at hand that we are going through that are the places where we lose
our push. It’s the push to do the simple things…like finishing
the next chapter of our Bible reading, placing the mail in its proper bin, or returning
the scissors to the drawer at the end of the craft project…and yes, even washing the muffin pan that very
night in order to make for a clean beginning the next day.
See, it is
not about unprecedented organization and complicated time management, but rather
push through. It’s tough when we are tired and want to stop.
We really don’t want to push anything anywhere, much less keep pushing through our
present moment of tiredness. I left her
kitchen that night—her clean kitchen—with a smile.
I still
smile even now, wondering how her kitchen really looks tonight. With her last push through came not just a clean
kitchen, but a clean end to our day. More
importantly and rewardingly came a fresh new beginning of the day to come. We would begin again, not saddled with the leftovers of what
remained from the night before.
Sometimes we
think the push through is about the
challenge of finishing. From her, I
gleaned it was more about the fresh, shining, beginning. It wasn’t about the close of that evening, but
the beginning of our new morning.
I ponder my
own two precious daughters and their lives and their births. What if when my doctor said “Push,” I said,
“No, not any more. There will be
tomorrow, another day, and I am tired now.”
No, I pushed at that moment! I chose to push through to a fresh, shining, beginning of "something wonderful."
One of those
"wonderful somethings" 32 years later signed my name, and then walked in my honor
at a cancer walk on a week that was bursting with busyness for her. For most of
us, the week would have been impossible to navigate through, but she succeeded.
I have learned from her that our victory
is not just because we are determined to persevere to the end, but because we are
also determined to push through the
moment!!!! If we want to be victorious,
with a respectable finish, we should strive for a more respectable start as
well! Blessings, Mimi (AKA Anne)
1 Corinthians 9:24 "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run? But only one gets the prize. Run in such a way as to get the prize."
Looking for even more great fall devotional ideas? Follow the link below to take you to a FREE download full of ideas to help your family "Fall" more in love with Jesus! Enjoy!
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