-by Darla Butterfield
One thing I’m coming to love about Oregon is actually having four distinct seasons. There’s something to enjoy in each season and my family is currently excited about any prospect of snow that might arrive, no matter how minor. Coming from California, I never really switched out clothes in my closet with the changes in seasons. Now I’m finding myself stocking up on winter essentials and learning more about the necessity of rain gear. I’m also in a different season of life than I ever thought I’d be in and God’s been using this season to grow me in so many ways. I know this season won’t last forever, but I want to cling to the good that God is teaching me and look for those lovely moments amidst the chaos that encourage me to persevere.
It’s Sunday afternoon and that means that I need to prep for the coming week with homeschooling my kids, along with considering the chores around the house that need to be done at some point. With everyone home all the time now it feels like my tasks have multiplied along with the amount of times someone says “I’m hungry.” In the last few months, I found myself constantly looking at the work remaining and feeling like I never made enough progress in the day on my to-do list. Some days would end and I’d feel defeated. There was always more clean up to be done. Did my kids do enough reading and writing? When will this season of life ever end? I began to realize in my frustration that I was focusing on the wrong things. Whose expectations really mattered? My clearly unrealistic ones? Or does God have a better view of what I need to get done in the day?
Recently during this season, I begin to let my measuring stick change from checking off my to-do list in my head and focusing more on the eternal value of the things that mattered during the day. Maybe I sat with my 8-year-old or 6-year-old and discussed how God speaks to us in our lives and how we follow Him. Sometimes it might look like taking those extra few minutes with my 2-year-old or 4-year-old to read to them or play with them. Sometimes we’ve let the formal lessons of the day go in favor of discovering the beauty of God’s creation outside and the wonder of snow or found joy at the park. For a former math teacher like me that likes lists that have been checked off and structure and order, this has been a challenge. It doesn’t come as naturally to me to let go of that control I think I have on my day and instead surrender it to the Lord.
In our play room in our home I have Colossians 3:23 on the wall, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” (I actually chose to put that verse in that room because I knew there would be many days of me cleaning up the play room and I wanted to have the right perspective.) God’s been working on my heart during this season of life to cling to Him and His presence in a way I never have before. He’s challenged me to put aside my agenda for the day and look to Him for what matters most. Instead of trying to wish away the difficult seasons of my life, I can look to the Lord for finding the beauty during those seasons.
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