Grounds in My Coffee

Reaching way back in the archives at Frogs, Snails, and Puppy Dog Tales, this one was originally published when the baby in question was child number three. Funny how I came across this post now that baby number four is nearing the same age…

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At 6 AM this morning I stumbled to my coffee pot, trying to muster up the energy to start the day. I filled my cup as usual and just as I began to stir in the creamer and sugar, I noticed that it was full of coffee grounds. It wasn’t really a big surprise – I’ve gotten used to this kind of behavior from my coffee pot. It isn’t a bad pot, but about 1 out of every 20 or so pots ends up full of grounds. So, I dumped it out and poured a new cup, this time filtering the coffee as I poured. I retreated to my favorite chair and spent the next 30 minutes reading my Bible, trying to prepare for the day. At that point I didn’t realize what exactly I was preparing for.

Some days at our house it seems like the whole world is out of balance, like overnight the world shifted from its axis leaving everything slightly out of place. This morning’s coffee grounds were only the beginning. All three boys woke up unusually grumpy. The oldest couldn’t seem to keep himself out of trouble, the baby cried all morning because he has two teeth trying to break through, and the middle child spent the morning at my side whining, probably feeling a little neglected because the other two were monopolizing my attention. I found the dog eating Q-tips again, a behavior that I thought she was finally over. When it came time for school, both boys did poorly in their math on things that I thought they had mastered.

Looking back on our morning, I can see there was nothing big, no Earth shattering crisis to face. It just seemed that everything we tried to do this morning was unusually difficult. I sit here now, with the sound of the baby crying in the background, and my oldest still struggling through his schoolwork, wondering why some days are such a challenge. I can’t help but think “Okay God, I did my part. I got up when I was supposed to, I spent time in your Word, I have tried to be patient through all this… Why is everything going wrong?”

Then I hear a very quiet voice, somehow drowning out the noise around me…

“What would your day have been like if you hadn’t spent time in my Word?”

Kendra is a stay-at-home homeschooling mother of four rowdy boys. She’s been married to her high-school sweetheart for twelve years. When she’s not playing teacher, nurse, cook or housekeeper, she loves to read and write.