Embrace the Ordinary: Tough days

Sometimes days are tough. I know you know that. I know I know that. And still, sometimes I need to remind myself that these days happen, sometimes in clusters, but they happen. 

Lately, I feel like there have been tons of time-outs, lots of tears, lots of testing of boundaries, and lots of tantruming (Is that word? Probably not, but for today, it is.). Not sure if the cold weather is starting to get to my boys, but we entered a new little world of behavior once it got cold and wet outside.

The thing about these cuties is they can go from time-out and tears to sweetness of miracles real quick. Do you ever see that joy and wonder?

Every day. After they have their little bath, they get some shower fun and they literally squeal with excitement every time.

Then we get to below again. Little man is looking at his daddy and not very happily. He wants to be carried and is upset that he didn't pick him up fast enough.

The thing about these hard days is, as much as I cry, struggle, or fail, a part of me feels like in embracing that hard, I am embracing my present moment. It's not always easy to do that, but when I get to that point where there is nothing else but to release and sink into the emotions and thoughts that come with the more challenging moments, the more beautiful ones become more real, and the harder ones become growth.

These little guys sometimes just want to be held a little more than I can offer, which is okay, as long as I try to meet them as much as I can.

Hard times and moments aside, these boys are good. They love each other and I pray that I can continue to help guide their love into more goodness and virtue. And, I pray even more that I can help guide their more challenging qualities into those two same things: goodness and virtue. Teach them to harness all that they've been given so that they can give it back to the amazing Lord who first shared it with them.

Embracing my recent ordinary has been hard. I don't know if it's the weather, temperament, exhaustion, all my recent back issues, or a combination of so many things (most likely the latter). At the end of the day, I do know I have a choice to choose love, forgiveness, humility, and joy.

For this embrace the ordinary, I'm praying for the grace to be able to choose love and joy in each moment that I meet. The good moments and the challenging moments. I'm also praying that I have the grace to choose humility and forgiveness whenever needed. These boys, don't intentionally seek to make my days hard. They intentionally seek to grow, to learn, to love, and to be loved. They seek for their needs to be met. And some days, like today, I really need to remember that.

Linking-up with wonderful Gina from Someday Saints, for Embrace the Ordinary. Be sure to head over to her place, she shared some beautiful thoughts a midst some trying times about prayer before everything.