Excerpts from a Mom, Wife, Scrapbooker, Twilight Fan!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Less is More

So last Sunday, (not THIS Sunday, but last Sunday) we had a great Adult Sunday School.  I missed Adult Sunday School this week to watch the toddlers in the nursery.   Now, I'm not the most adept at recall, but I do remember this.  We talked about selfishness, and how sometimes that can create our own stress and stress to those around us.  Our sunday school leader said that he often is rushing the family around trying to get ready to go somewhere, yet if he'd just gotten out of bed and done a few things a little earlier, things would go so much more smoothly and it would alleviate so much stress on him and the 4 little munchkins (and wife) he's trying to rush around to get out of the house.

When I heard that, I thought 'God, that is so me!'  I made a pledge right then to try and make a change to be less selfish.  Less snuggling back down into the covers at 6:30 when the alarm goes off and I hit snooze every 7 minutes until 6:50. Less pretending that I don't hear Scott at 6:30 getting dressed, opening and closing drawers, the closet, muttering at the cat to get out of his way.  Less grumbling at the kids for the third or fourth time that we have to get dressed NOW or we're going to be late....Less stressing the kids out when they're enjoying talking to each other during breakfast ( I mean, what am I thinking we don't have time to talk to each other during breakfast???) Less talking through doors that 'you HAVE to get off the potty NOW or we're going to be late!'  Less blame about whose fault it is when we pull out of the driveway at 8:07 instead of 7:55.   Less guilt that I'm quickly dropping the kids off at school to walk in (quickly, of course, and some times I even roll down the passenger window to remind Tristan, 'Walk Quickly BUD!) without me, when I know they love for me to walk them to their cubbies, get a kiss and a hug and a wish for a great day at school.

So last week, I started making an effort to banish my morning selfishness.  It worked almost every day (yah I slipped up one morning, I'm new to this okay?).  When I thought about how much nicer the mornings were, more time to see Scott grumble at the kitty, more time to talk, more time to listen to talking, more time to go potty in peace, more time to walk nicely into school and give each child a hug and and a kiss, knowing that neither child was stressed about classing having started without them, I think God wasn't working in a mysterious way, just working on me.

So no time spent hitting the snooze button, no time pretending that I'm still asleep, no time stressing out my family, no time stressing out myself.  Yep, working on me.

3 comments:

cbogie said...

Good for you, Ellen! I so often forget that good stuff I get from SS, cuz I'm ... rushing!! Thanks for sharing and for the great reminder. Although, more time to watch Scott grumble?? Hmmm... :)

Deairdre said...

Thanks for the insight into incorporating SS into your life. It encourages me to hear about others' struggles with whatever it is God is working on in their lives. I am so happy SS is back in session!

Macey said...

I wonder how many times I say, "HURRY up!" during the day...?