A Day in the Life of Little Hands

"Just one day, just one day ... of no messes" that is all that I asked as I SCREAMED at 5 of my precious little gifts from God.

Not a great precursor to Mother’s Day tomorrow now is it? ((sigh))

Well, I know better, really I do … but sometimes at the end of the day … just ONE more mess is too many for me to handle. And a bucket of spilled rotten paint was too much for me to handle. We have had three buckets sitting in our house for about 5 years now … one had red, one had white, and one had a creamy yellow. Well, precious little gift number 9, Sir Hiss-a-lot, tipped over the white paint in the bathroom floor amidst the last pile of dirty clothes, wet towels from their showers and their shoes all because he wanted to play monkey in the zoo to show off for his brother. ((BANGING HEAD ON DESK))

So after I mopped up about 2.5 gallons of white paint that STUNK to the high Heaven and the deepest pits of Hades and listening to Big Lanky Bubba fuss about how bad it stunk, I went to sit quietly in my chair as my babies slunk off to bed. Not a great end to an evening that should have been joyous. I blew it … do you see a common theme running here … Momma blows it quite often. I have no excuse … I have very little patience at times and I just let loose. I don’t think before I scream bloody murder. No wonder my babies didn’t care if they got a good-night kiss or not … who would want a good-night kiss from a grouch like me!! Well, once I made it my chair I picked up a book that my precious baby sister had loaned me and started to read. There is where God comes into the picture … he picked that book right up and proceeded to beat me about the head for being such an evil wretch to my children. I was reading Chicken Soup for the Christian Soul. So, I had been in the habit of just opening the book and reading whatever. As blessings would have it … here is where I opened to …

Little Hands by Judith Peitsch

Thank you Lord for dirty hands
That touch my stove and fridge;
For sticky little fingers that
Try to build a bridge.

For careless hands that go astray
In search of something new;
For hands to hold and show the way
As mothers often do.

For precious little hands in which
Great faith so abounds;
For silly little hands that reach
To touch a mother’s frown.

And thank you for your guiding hand
That leads me to the light;
That lifts me when I stumble
And points me to the right.

As little hands reach out to me
To show them what to do,
I’m steadied, reassured, and loved
As I reach up to you.

OH, Lord how you remind me in oh so subtle ways of what I should be thankful for … so no matter what messes I have to clean up, I will be thankful today, tomorrow, and all the tomorrows that follow that I have little messes (or big messes) that my precious gift’s little hands make. Just another instance to motivate me into being a better mother ...