It Goes By So Fast.

The school day has been wrapped and the kids are happily occupied. While the emotional state of the house is steady for the time being, I’m feeling slightly on edge about the physical state of the house. Someone just tracked mud through the foyer, I can’t see past the boxes of food stacked on the kitchen island, I just finished picking up the floor for the fourth time today--a task I really would just leave until the end of the day if it weren’t such a hazard--and on to folding laundry—again. I look down off to the side at my 7-month-old contentedly playing with her big brother’s tractor and I hear that voice in the back of my mind. Not anyone’s in particular really, it's a phrase that’s been said by too many different people for that, but the words softly ring in my mind and sober my heart.

“It goes by so fast.”

And it’s true. I’m only nine years into motherhood and it’s just an undeniable fact, it really does go by fast. The words themselves have resonated more deeply for me with each child we’ve had. After I had my third baby, the awareness of the brevity of babyhood really struck me. I held my little newborn while my 1-year-old squeezed in to fit in my lap too, and the contrast was clear. The realization hit me that the newborn stage really wouldn’t last long. Understanding that truth enabled me to embrace that exhausting stage and all of its nuances with joy.

So, today, now with five precious children, I stop and think about the state of my house and with those simple words of wisdom I’m reminded, it’s really not worth the stress, because it goes by so fast. With children, everything comes in short seasons. Those tiny fresh-smelling baby toes, the super snuggly stages, or “Will you play with me?” “Will you read me a book?” it’s all just a season, so soak it up. On the flip side, the sleepless nights, the unreasonable tantrums, the tattling, the potty-trained-but-likes-to-pee-on-the-dresser stage, and yes, the chaotic house, are all just for a season. So, I can breathe deep knowing the rough parts won’t be forever, and I can slow down and embrace the moment knowing the sweet one’s are just as fleeting.

 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and make a profit"--yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."

James 4:13-14