The Joy Before Me…here we go!

First post of a brand new blog and I have been staring at this screen trying to figure out what to write.  Which is ironic, because I’ve been thinking about this blog for about a year now.  You’d think I’d have thought about what to actually write in it.  You see, about a year ago, I was a mess.  Actually let’s make that a Mess with a capital “M”.  We were one year into our then 5 year-old’s diagnosis of type 1 diabetes; we had a potty-training toddler, and an infant who had not quite figured out how to sleep past 5am.  Between middle-of-the-night blood sugar checks and waking up with that sweet baby while it was still dark out, I was completely drained.  I cried.  A lot.  Life felt too hard for me.  I spent my days (and nights) doing what I needed to do to keep my children fed, safe, loved, and (sort of) clean.  There didn’t seem to be time left over for the things that I wanted to do.  My part-time photography business had transformed from an exciting creative outlet into another item on the to-do list.  By the time we wrestled all three of our little ones into bed each night, I had to choose between photos to edit, dishes to wash, or laundry to fold…but all I really wanted to do was collapse.  Something had to change.  So I backed away from photography, hoping it’d only be for a season.

And I rested.  And in the resting, I felt a stirring.  A little nudge to do something more.  More?  What?!  I was trying to do less!  I was better when I was doing less!  So being the responsible person I am, I just kept trying to push that nudge away.  And that nudge just kept nudging me back.  And this blog is what it’s lead  me to.

Today we are nearly two years into our now 6-year-old’s diagnosis of type 1 diabetes, our preschooler is fully potty trained, and our toddler is now sleeping until 6am most mornings. I’m still pretty tired.  I still have stacks of things to take care of after the kids are in bed, and I still would rather collapse than do them.  But I’ve come to realize that our situation is not too unique.  Whether you have one child or six, medical needs or not, work in or outside of the home, life is not easy.  Let’s be real about that.  Let’s agree that life is hard and none of us have all our ducks in a row all the time.  Someone will always need you and the to-do list will always seem greater than the time you have to do it in.  And for a long time, that’s where my train of thought stopped, right here where we all agree that life is hard.

But here’s the truth that I hang on to most days, “So be truly glad.  There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while.” (1 Peter 1:6)  Even the Bible agrees with us that life is hard.  That’s no surprise to God.  But this life, this late-night-early-morning, kids-won’t-stop-arguing, I-will-never-win-the-laundry-battle life is just “a little while” and we can be truly glad because for those of us who believe, there IS a wonderful joy ahead.  And when I focus on the joy before me it’s easier to smile when I hear my littlest one beckoning me to retrieve him from his crib at 6:02am.

I’m choosing to focus on the joy before me.  Because the rest is just for a little while.

Right click and copy this free 5×7 printable of 1 Peter 1:6 by www.thejoybeforeme.com