These past few months I have had the honor and joy to help care for our first grand baby gal. When I am with her, I am reminded of the years I spent taking care of little bitties…so much joy remembered.  All of my senses awaken as I hold June and smell freshly washed baby skin and sweet, milky breath. Oh, and the feels of her soft cheek next to my cheek-- divine. 

I love tracing the wrinkles and dimples in her hands and feeling her grab onto my finger and hold on while she drinks from her bottle remind me of days gone by.  Oh, and the little pat-pats on my shoulder that she gives me! They melt my heart. So much joy.

But, even in the days spent caring for this little bitty, the lie slipped in that I needed to get all the things done, that I needed a little more time. I needed a little something more.

I believed this lie way back in the day, that someday, maybe when the kids got bigger, I would have ALL the time to do ALL the things. 

Y’all, I'm here to say that is just not true. Back then, I dreamed of the day when I got older and the kids would:

 sleep through the night

take longer naps

potty train

take even longer naps

start home schooling

finish home schooling

start school

leave home

and on and on.  

The list never ends. 

We think we will have time someday and so we live in the future. Then we wake up one day, and it is the future, and our lives have not materially changed.

We only have today, people.

Jesus reminds us we just have today.  

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:34

Oh, wait. I can't plan out my future or even all the details of the day? Today is enough? I am right where I need to be, when I am in today.

Even as an empty nester, with three out of four sons married, I still feel busy.  How can that be?  I'm not driving the Suburban. I don’t have to work around naps or school schedules or carpools.  Those constraints have been replaced by other pursuits like caring for aging parents, the needs of friends and grown children and pursuing some of my own dreams like writing and coaching and mentoring. But you know what? I am still worrying about tomorrow or trying to figure out how to get a little more time, squeeze more out of the day.

As I wash little toes and clean avocado slime off of chubby cheeks, I am reminded that the clean slate day is a myth.  The day that only you plan and only has your fingers on it, is part of a dream.  Finding the work/life balance is what the magazine article talks about or the podcaster preaches, but I have come to realize there is no balance in God’s presence. 

The balance comes in listening to God and coming to Him each day for the plan. We are to ask for what we need for Today. It might not seem balanced, but it is good. He gives; we receive.

Give us today our daily bread. Matthew 6:11

He gives; we receive. Daily.

He invites us to listen to the Father, walk, and then listen some more. 

This is exactly what He did when He walked through the towns and villages, willing to change plans or make a detour. He listened to the promptings of the Father the time he trekked through Samaria so he could sit and wait for a certain woman to show up at the well. Listening to the Father, He knelt down and spit in the dirt to make a paste to open blind eyes. In the midst of a crowd, He turned and looked into a woman who brushes his robe, and then heals her. He walked and stopped to listen, always asking the Father what He wanted Him to be about.

 The perfect day is one full of interruptions and God’s fingers molding and shaping me, leading me to the daily bread, not the balance.  Oh, how I wish I had used the busy days of my youth to practice receiving the days and moments from the fingers of God.  Fingers prodding and pointing me to the better thing. The practice would have been good for me.

Instead of looking for balance and getting it all done, I wish I had practiced leaning into the Lord and listening.

Waiting and receiving.

Knowing that what I need to get done will get done, in His time.

I love when Jesus at the end of His life, lifts His eyes to the heavens and says to His Father,

I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. John 17:4

He got done what the Lord had planned out for Him  And we can, too! 

Whatever stage we are in, we can lean in and listen and be assured that He will direct us and give us the time we need to get the things done that we need to get done. I see that happening today as I nuzzle into the back of the baby's neck and steal a kiss. Ah, that is the balance. The manna, the daily bread.

And the rest of the stuff we think we need to do? 

  The rest we lay down, and we choose to be content and satisfied with the day we lived.

Young mom, you can learn to do this with His help. A good question to ask at the end of the day is not what did I get done, but

"What do I feel good about today?"

That question leaves room for celebrating our daily bread and the ways we choose to do the small, quiet acts of love and worship.

And you, Mom with grown littles, you too, can learn to lean into this way of asking for our daily bread and being satisfied with what the Father has for you today.  The satisfaction of knowing you are accomplishing the work He gave YOU to do.

We have enough time to do the things He has planned for us.

xoxo