Tender Mercies

As the title of this post suggests, I'm going to write for a minute about tender mercies. But first a quick update about my Netflix exercise program. So far so good, except this week, because my kids are sick and the second I leave the room they need something. I've also added 100 sit-ups a day, although that has also suffered this week, because, although I can do them in the presence of my sickies, I may as well be in a different room. If I'm not RIGHT NEXT TO THEM, I'm not doing enough. This actually leads me to the main topic of this post.

I pray every day. Multiple times. Even when I'm not kneeling by my bed or sitting at the table before a meal, prayers go through my head during difficult moments. If my 6-year-old can't find that perfect Lego, and I can see a meltdown coming, a prayer goes out from my heart that he and I can find it before the storm hits. I'm not saying I pray constantly, because a lot of the time it occurs to me after an ugly incident that prayer would probably have been a good idea. The point is, I believe in a loving God that wants me to succeed and is willing to help. I also believe that, while there are truly miraculous occurrences, like angels appearing to prophets, most of the time, His work is done through the people in our lives. I think we can see His hand in the tender mercies that happen from day to day.

After almost 13 years of marriage, my husband knows that telling me to improve something in a direct way is completely ineffective, and usually lands him in the dog house. He's become much more subtle. His Family Home Evening lessons are usually about something he knows I could improve, and a few weeks ago his lesson was about being happy by seeking out the positive each day instead of focusing on disappointments. I'm not sure if he was actually aiming the lesson at me, but it was a much needed reminder that I needed to stop being so darn negative. We made a plan to write down three positive things each day so we could end the day on a positive note. When you're home all day with small children, it's easy to get to the end of the day and feel like a failure, to wish you'd been nicer, to see how dirty your house is. Yesterday, after taking care of sick kids for a week, I sat down with my journal and started to realize that Heavenly Father had surrounded me with loving friends and family, who have blessed me daily. Here are just a few tender mercies I've seen this week:

1. A trip to California. The week before everyone got sick, I was filling my nearly empty mommy bucket in sunny California with my old roommate, Rachel Knecht. (Or, the Tall Rachel, as she was called in our Moon Apartments days.) This trip was planned months in advance, and I flew out (first time on a plane in 8 years, by the way) and traipsed around LA with Rachel in the 85 degree sunshine, eating taquitos and meandering through cool old buildings. I didn't know I'd be coming home to a week of sick kids, but without that break, I'm pretty sure I would be huddled in a corner, eating my hair and swatting invisible flies right now.

Me at the beach. I could probably spend an entire week sitting on the beach and listening to the ocean.

2. Really good visiting teachers. I've had great visiting teachers in the past. And when I haven't had any, I was okay. I have a fairly drama free life, most of the time. But right now I have fantastic visiting teachers, that saw my pathetic posts on Facebook about how I was trapped in my house with barfing children, and they showed up with dinner, including dessert. And it was on a day that I had slept for maybe 3 hours and had been on my feet, taking care of a very needy 6-year-old all day. I don't know if they knew just how helpful their appearance at my door with food was going to be, but I may have cried a few tears in gratitude after they left. 

3. Good friends. Really great ladies. I car pool with one of my dear friends, and she's been pulling all the weight this week. And she's being so cheerful and nice about it. She has little kids, one of whom has a napping schedule, and she's not complaining at all about jumping in the car with her little kids and picking the kids up so I don't have to. She's amazing. And I got to get together with her and some other friends earlier this week for a girls' night, where they patiently let me whine about the smells at my house and helped me escape for a few hours. 

4. Tim. He stayed home all morning yesterday so I could put some earplugs in and catch up on lost sleep. He didn't have to do it, but he knew how tired I was (and he was tired too, and still managed to function while I slept). I'm pretty sure if I hadn't gotten that sleep (earplugs are the best, by the way), yesterday would have been really ugly. And I already mentioned the FHE lesson, where he reminded me gently that seeking the positive makes us happier. And here I am, 7 days in, much happier than I'd have been without his positive influence.

I hope this doesn't sound like a laundry list of things to brag about. That's not the intent. This is my way of illustrating God's hand in our lives. I truly believe that, if we take the time to look around us, we will find tender mercies, lifting us above the difficulties we may face. My week of sick kids can't even compare to the challenges people face every day. But we all have days that are hard, weeks that feel long, and trials that seem impossible to overcome. God's hand in our lives may not rid us of the challenges we face, but these tender mercies can smooth the path a little.