Plain Vanilla Days
We had a guest speaker at church this past week. His message wasn’t one of fire and brimstone, nor was it “jump up and shout” material. It was a simple, yet profound truth that had somehow managed to escape me all these years. In a nutshell, he said that most of our lives aren’t spent in mountain top experiences, nor are they spent walking through the hard valleys. Instead, 90% of our lives, maybe more, are those average daily routine days, and in those average days we must learn to be content. Earth shattering, right?
I’ve been thinking about his words and have started to look at how that applies to our homeschooling, family, and even our Christmas celebration. I thought I’d share some of my ponderings with you; so grab a cup of cocoa and disconnect from your to-do list for a few brief moments.
In our homeschooling, we often look at those lofty goals of graduation (maybe even a year early), dual enrollment and child prodigy status as the “be all, end all.” However, I’ve started to take note of the long gray afternoons around the woodstove with my girls and a pot of hot tea and realized that this is what brings my heart joy. It’s the time spent working on projects, going over schoolwork and snuggling down with a read aloud book that really makes all the hard days worthwhile.
In our family, I’m finding things that we have that others maybe don’t, and I don’t mean that in a judgmental or “we’re better than you” way. I realize that when given the opportunity to choose, our kids pick doing something as a family instead of going out with friends. My husband goes to work every day, sometimes seven days a week, for weeks on end, so he can come home and sit down at the dinner table and hear about all those experiences we had up there in that homeschooling portion of our day. Our home is peaceful, and we all want to be here—that’s big!
Here it is December and everyone is rushing towards the often anti-climactic Christmas morning. I’ve started to look at each event as its own blessing. The cookie baking, the shopping, the decorating and the hectic schedule are all just things that have to be done. But in changing the focus of those “have to” items to a “get to” mentality and enjoying the time with the kids, friends and extended family completely make the whole season a truly wonderful time of the year.
As you finish up the last minute details of your Christmas season and look to the New Year, make a conscious effort to see each mundane day as the gift it is, and watch your level of joy go to a whole new level. 90% of our time shouldn’t be spent waiting for the “big ticket items.”
Joesette Huffman is a dynamic speaker, blogger, wife and homeschooling mother of two. She is is active both in the online homeschooling world and in her local homeschool community and church, as well as a volleyball coach and co-op leader. You can find her weekly at Learning Curve.
