Starting the Day Right

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. Proverbs 15:1

So, I’ve gotten up before the sun, seen hubby off to work, unloaded the dishwasher, spent some quality time with the Lord and downed a much needed cup of coffee. A beginning like this should make for a fantastic day with my children, right?

I think maybe that was one of my biggest misconceptions about life since motherhood – that if I do all the things I am supposed to do, God will bless me with a peaceful and problem-free family. Unfortunately in just isn’t so. In fact, many times I believe that it is quite the opposite. I believe the devil sees my efforts and in turn, does everything he possibly can to destroy the foundations I’m trying to build.

I dream of the day that my boys will rise with cheerful hearts, greeting each other with a pleasant “good morning!”  But, ladies, to be honest, it just doesn’t happen that way. Typically, though, it goes something like this –

I sit downstairs with a second cup of coffee, ready for the moment all the little people start to wake. I hear the feet, and I’m anxious to see their smiling faces. But then the littlest person creeps across the hall to visit his big brothers who aren’t quite ready to be awake and I hear “MooOOOoooM! Sawyer’s in our room again!” followed by a slamming door and the sound of my little one crying. Then I holler up the stairs, “can’t you guys just be nice to him?”

So much for my peaceful morning.

So many days at our house have been spoiled like this. It is so hard to recuperate after a beginning like that. It just seems to get a hold on the rest of the day like toilet paper on your shoe!

I’ve been praying about this, and here is what I’m attempting to do – to start every day the right way. No matter what side of the bed the boys crawl out of, to greet them in the morning with a hug and a kind word. For the first words out of my mouth to be something that will squelch the grumpiness and cheer the sour faces. I can’t control sibling rivalry. I can’t control their moods when they wake up earlier than they’d like. But I can control the way I respond to them.