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Soul Food Friday: Joy In The Small Things

January 6, 2012 By Erika Zane

6 Jan

If I need to convince this stubborn Little Man that I really must change his stinky diaper one.more.time, I may just explode.  Or at least that’s how I feel some days.  He may look cute and innocent, but he’s quite the willful toddler.

Ok, so he’s still cute and innocent most of the time.  But, I find it so easy to get caught up in the day to day stresses of my life.  I know it’s not just the territory that comes with motherhood.  I struggled with the same issue in my pre-parent day-to-day life.  In fact, I probably I find more opportunities for zen and meditation in the small routines I have with Little Man than I did in my corporate career.  I think the biggest difference is that I now have to integrate that time into my schedule, whereas I had the time, money, energy, and freedom to go take a yoga class before.

As a Christian, my yoga time was my primary quiet time for prayer and meditation I set aside every day to connect with God.  I find those moments less frequent these days and, unfortunately, my time with the Lord has suffered along everything else I used to find more time for.

I steal moments for prayer and meditation when I’m putting Little Man down for naps and bedtime, when I’m in the car, during his nap, and in the evenings after Hubby goes to bed.  It only adds up to about 30 minutes to an hour when all’s said and done, though.

That’s why I want to start doing this every Friday.  I’m picking a worship song I’ve heard throughout the week and focusing on how it applies to my life.

This week’s song is one that’s touched my heart for a while now: “Do Everything” by Steven Curtis Chapman.  I think it’s worth listening to if you have the time, but the first verse and the chorus are what grabbed my attention the first time I heard it:

Your picking up toys on the living room floor for the 15th time today
Matching up socks
Sweeping up lost cheerios that got away

You put a baby on your hip
Color on your lips and head out the door

While I may not know you,
I bet I know you
Wonder sometimes, does it matter at all?

Well let me remind you, it all matters just as long
As you do everything you do to the glory of the One who made you,
Cause he made you,
To do
Every little thing that you do
To bring a smile to His face
Tell the story of grace
With every move that you make
And every little thing you do

The importance of the everyday small things is something I lose sight of a lot.  I forget just how important they each are in the grand scheme of things.  I often feel like I don’t do much more than pick up LM’s toys, change his diapers, feed him, do his laundry, and read to him.  At the end of the day that doesn’t leave me feeling all that accomplished, but it matters.  All of it.  It’s stuff that needs to be done for him and I want to find joy in it.

Even in those small ways, I’m serving God if I’m doing it all joyfully in his name.  I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about that.  About what’s really important in life.  I need to work on finding joy in the “mundane” because, what I realize more and more each day is, happiness isn’t about what I have, it’s about how I choose to see things and who I’m serving.

AND part of choosing to serve God as a SAHM means I get to see this little blessing happy at least once a day.  That always brings joy to my heart:

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Filed Under: Faith, Soul Food Friday

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Comments

  1. Branson says

    January 7, 2012 at 10:06 pm

    I really needed this message today! And I don’t recognize that SCC song… Will have to listen when it won’t disturb the almost-asleep bubs, lol. Thanks so much for sharing 🙂

Trackbacks

  1. Soul Food Friday: I Need To See With A Pure Heart says:
    January 27, 2012 at 12:56 pm

    […] and I try to really hear the words of the songs they play every time I go anywhere.  I’ve decided to start a weekly series where I talk about a song that’s touched me.  I don’t see […]

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About me

Hello and welcome.  It’s been a while.  For Lent this year I decided to fast from the thing that took too much of my attention from what is truly important: Social Media.  Though there are countless amazing benefits to Social Media, after about a month offline so far, there are seemingly just as many negatives.  I never realized how much of my brain had been hijacked by it.  I’ve had so many revelations about how much easier it is to move forward when I’m not constantly reminded of the past.  But I still want to record my family as they grow at this ridiculous speed and, I’m realizing, so many of our family’s memories are here.  Those along with so many of the struggles and stages we’ve worked through.  Maybe in the midst of COVID19 isolation and my kids around me so often, I’m brought back to a time when they were too young for school and with me so often.  Writing here during that time helped make up for the limited adult conversation in my days and the overwhelm provided by my… little treasures 😉 My husband, fur babies, three fiesty kids, and I hereby extend an invitation to visit this little sneak peak into our life. We’re super flawed and broken and there aren’t too many dull moments around here.  And I promise it’s not always as magical as some of my golden hour, sun-soaked images would suggest.  There’s usually too much coffee in my system and we welcome all the prayers.  Come on over if you want to process with me.

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