sickness and blessings

If you follow me on facebook or twitter, you probably already gathered that a nasty virus has invaded our home. 

And this has been my view for much of the last 72 hours, as well as the inside of my eyelids;) I have to say, this pic makes it look like it may even have been a little pretty. Sipping hot tea, catching up on some reading. Well, I can assure you, it has not. 

You most likely already know that I am a planner and how I really like for everything to fit in a nice little box. My husband often teases that if I could put the entire house in labeled bins and baskets I would. Mmmm... Well, not quite that far but, He knows me well!

So when this uninvited nusance entered our home last week and quickly spread through the entire house, I was anything but amused. I mean, it was the beginning of the new year! I had things to purge and closets to organize! School lessons to get in order, lesson plans to write and new ideas for the blog to get moving on. Hello!! This virus didn't fit!

And as it came to rest on me, my agitation's gave way to pity parties. You know the ones. 

Just a feverish you and your pitiful box of tissues. Whoa is me. Yep. That was me. 

Meals were crossed off of the meal plan, school did not begin as scheduled and the piles of dirty dishes and laundry were taunting me. 

But during my mess, God spoke so kindly to me. As I read about being a grace-based parent I realized that I wasn't seeing much grace in my current circumstances.

God began to peel the covering off of my grouchy vision and show me His view of things. My blessings. My great abundance. Instead of moaning over the needs I saw, I began to praise Him for the multitude of blessings I saw around me.  That my oldest son hadn't fallen to this nasty upper respiratory virus. And that my children were not all sick simultaneously. That my hubby and I weren't at our worst at the same time. That we indeed had food to eat and clean clothes to wear. That a day {or four} without doing laundry wasn't much of an issue. There was medicine available and plenty of hot tea to go around. We are abundantly blessed! 

And God has revealed something about my parenting during these days as well. Maybe it is due to the book in the photo or just my eyes being opened due to my own need for help. Either way, I have watched a greater beauty be revealed in my son than I had ever noticed before. 

It is the beauty of watching my oldest {the only one staying well during all of this} rise up to meet needs in our home. The challenges of helping to care for his younger siblings and doing more than his usual lot around the house. He is developing a gentle servants heart and he has blossomed with this opportunity to serve. 

He has been called on to help make snacks for his siblings or fill a cup for his sister. Read a book to his brother or help him reach something he can't manage on his own. But what I noticed in him today was a moving away from these "usual" ways he contributes to our home and a taking up of greater responsibility. Cleaning up way more than his share and offering his help wherever he saw a need. And he was LOOKING for needs! Making me hot tea, getting his sister ready for bed, and on and on.

I realized that he had begun to sense that He had purpose. A greater purpose for our family than I had allowed him to feel before. I was trying to do so much than I wasn't giving him a sense of purpose through meeting needs in our home that is appropriate for his age. Children desperately need to feel that they matter and that there is a purpose in their days. That life is more than just a series of days. And really, don't we all?

I am grateful that God has used this bug to slow me down. I was plowing so fast into 2013 that I was missing blessings right in front of me. God met me in the middle of my mess and opened my eyes to great blessings in my parenting. Blessings I wasn't even looking for and a need in my son that I hadn't realize the depth of. 

linking up with:
Titus 2sdays, Titus 2 Tuesdays, Encourage One Another