My Peaceful Place

I discovered something today. . .

that I can have a peaceful place in the midst of noise and chaos. I loved escaping to this wonderful place this morning. You may want to try it.

Have you ever had a hectic morning? I did today.

I was trying so hard to be calm and happy and kind this morning. And it was going pretty well actually. . . and then we started our first day of school.

This homeschool routine of ours should not be hectic, except that I have a toddler and an infant who like to be in the center of things, and boisterous at that. So, to help calm things down, I decided that I was going to start "blanket time" with Luke while the big kids worked on their writing. He was beside himself excited!

We were going to build with Legos on the blanket for fifteen minutes, so off we went to find a blanket and pull the Lego tub out of the playroom and set up shop near the kitchen table. {I wanted to be close by to help the others if they had any questions.}

Well, here comes Chase! He immediately stands in the middle of us and begins to claim all of Luke's Lego animals which caused great concern and stress, of course. In the midst of this commotion, Ashton finishes his work (it took us a while to get our blanket) and asks to join us. Within seconds, he's making very loud noises with the Legos and flying them all around. Then Amberlyn was stumped with a question about her lesson. I call her to me so I can look over it with her without leaving the blanket. Ten minutes later, I realize our blanket time got lost in the fray and commotion of what everyone else needed.

{Thankfully, I'm a quick student. Tomorrow, Chase gets playpen time with his own toys while Luke and I have blanket time--alone.}

Our minister said yesterday, busyness brings strife and your best requires rest (I was taking notes, David!). This really struck home with me.

Busyness brings strife--my best requires rest. . . boy, that's true!

I knew that I didn't want to snap at my kids or get angry, so as I was in the middle of grading Joshua's lesson-- and after the fifteenth chaotic interruption when I could feel my blood beginning to boil-- I just bowed my head slightly and closed my eyes and focused for a minute on the Lord's peace.

I meditated on His wonderful goodness and breathed deeply of His calm for just a minute or so, but it was more than enough to center me again and restore my peace.

Try it sometime. You may just rediscover your peaceful place, too.