Nothing Gets the Point Across Better

This past Sunday we celebrated Mother's Day.  Most moms probably appreciate having at least one official day in which we are thanked and acknowledged for our sacrifices, because a mother's responsibilities and contributions are often taken for granted, even though they clearly under gird every aspect of our daily lives.

Mothers take care of the 1001 dangling threads in life that may appear harmless, but if left to unravel, would cause an entire ensemble to fall apart. These are the threads that somehow only a mother has eyes to see.  

Whenever my kids claim they have cleaned their room, I always tell them to go back and look one more time with "Mommy eyes" and then tell me if it's really "clean."  That usually results in them discovering that hiding things under the bed or behind the door does not qualify as "clean" in my book.

Sometimes it seems mothers can give and give and give, and yet it's never enough --"Homemade smoothies again?!"  Instead of inspiring our families to appreciate our efforts, sometimes we inadvertently spoil them, and instead of appreciation we are met with more expectation.

When kids and husbands ask mothers, "What do you do all day?" it's hard to know where to begin to answer. Should the answer cover everything we've done from the top to the bottom of the house, or should it focus on what we've done from the top to the bottom of the day, or maybe it would be best to go from the top to the bottom of our "to do list" for each family member?  I finally concluded it would be much easier to answer the question, "What don't you do all day?"

In fact, I've often thought that nothing would get the point across better than, well, nothing.  If mothers simply stopped doing every single thing we do in a given period of time, the "nothing" that we would do would probably speak volumes over the overlooked and under appreciated "somethings" we do every day.

This tribute to mothers (author unknown) illustrates it best:                       

A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud.  The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house, and there was no sign of the dog.

Proceeding into the entry, he found and even bigger mess.  A lamp had been knocked over.  In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was covered with toys and various items of clothing.

In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, etc.

He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife.  He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened.

He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door.  As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor.  Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls.

As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went.

He looked at her bewildered and asked, "What happened here today?" She again smiled and answered, "You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world I do all day?" "Yes," was his incredulous reply.  She answered, "Well, today I didn't do it."

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I think you'll agree....Nothing got the point across better....

BNcouraged!

Rev. Karen