I Take it Back.....

....apparently Florida winter is occasionally hot enough to bust out the August maternity wear.  In honor of a lovely Saturday morning spent at an almost deserted beach in almost 80 degree weather I pulled out the maternity shorts.  I'll spare you the full body picture that shows the full splendor of how ridiculous my stick legs look poking out of shorts under this monstrous belly......you're welcome.

The boys had a lot of fun.  Nature treasures were found and collected......

.....tunnels were dug.......

.....and daddy jumped into the ice water.  Just because the air was warm didn't make the water warm, but I guess some people just enjoy a nice ice bath--everyone else in the water had the sense to wear a wet suit......

I  prefer my seasons to arrive in chronological order and last more than three weeks (which is apparently how long winter lasts round these parts), but I can admit that it was nice to have such a lovely day to spend together--even if id did feel like we were skipping right over spring......




As I was sitting on the blanket instead of building sandcastles--giant beached whale that I am--I couldn't help thinking about this new little life that will be joining us shortly.  Can I mother three children well?  Will I be able to keep some semblance of sanity and patience when I already struggle with those things as it is and I'm not even sleep deprived yet?  What's going to happen to my spiritual life when it's already hanging on by a thread and mostly consists of throwing up a hasty morning offering and offering grace before meals?  This is going to be a lot of work.......

Then I read this:

"No Christian can ever think that although his work is apparently of little importance--as some might imply with their contemptuous or supercilious attitude to it--he can do it in any old way.   God sees the work, and it has an importance that we cannot even suspect.  You asked what you could offer the Lord.  I don't have to think twice about the answer, offer the same things as before, but do them better, finishing them off with a loving touch that will lead you to think more about him and less about yourself.  

...

The nature of some types of work that demand great concentration makes it difficult to turn one's mind in the course of it frequently to God, but if we get used to talking to him, making an effort to find him, he will be like  an appropriate background music for everything we do.  If we work in this way, work and interior life will not interrupt each other, just as the beating of the heart does not interrupt our attention to our activities whatever they may be.  Rather must work and prayer complement each other, in the same way that voices mingle with instruments to form a harmony.  Work not only does not disturb the life of prayer, but becomes a channel for it.  Then what we ask for in that beautiful prayer becomes reality...May the whole of our day, our prayer and our work take their strength from you and always begin with you, O Lord, and may all that we have begun through you reach a happy conclusion."

~In Conversation with God - Volume 3

I could definitely do  a better job at sanctifying my daily work, finishing off my daily tasks with a loving touch--as opposed to the usual finishing off my daily tasks grudgingly with a dramatic collapse onto the couch so that everyone knows just.how.hard.I've.been.working.  If my work is my prayer then maybe taking care of a newborn won't seem so overwhelming.  It would also help if little John Michael is more of a Henry and less of a David when it comes to sleep habits and overall crankiness levels.......