Rejoice? Do I have to?

“This is day that the Lord has made we are to REJOICE(?) and be glad in it!” -Psalms 118:24

When my daughter, Kensington was born, my oldest son, Kaleb was a little over two years old. He is very bright and was one of those toddlers that didn’t miss much. Early one morning, Kaleb was chatting away ready to take on the day and all ready getting into mischief. He was full of that energy only toddlers seem to have. (Sometimes I wonder if all this energy is wasted on them…I mean, why can’t I have some of that energy?) It was a long night for me as I had been up a couple of times that night nursing my newborn daughter. I was standing at the changing table getting Kensington ready for the day, I simply looked at Kaleb and I said, very poignantly ” Kaleb, we are not going to start off the day this way!!” and as I said this, I stomped my foot and pointed to the carpet. In all of the innocence he could muster, he looked at me with his big brown eyes and pointed in the other room and said, “That way?” I broke…how could I argue with this? I just needed to change my perspective.

Don’t you love children? Their perspectives are so simple. If you don’t want to start off a day in a certain way, just change directions. Just change directions….sounds easy. But when you are tired, stressed, worried, filled with anxiety, it can be difficult. Sometimes simply rejoicing in today can be hard, too. But this is what the Bible says we are to do. We are to rejoice in today! Why? Simply because the Lord made this day for us! What a gift! And we get a new one every morning. If you don’t like this one perhaps tomorrow will be better.

Having gone through the early stages of mommy-hood and experiencing three children under the age of five, if you can simply find enough time in the morning to thank your Heavenly Father for another day and ask Him to help you to rejoice, He will honor your requests. I believe He has a special place in His heart for young moms. So in the midst of cries, diaper changes, finding pacifiers, nursing, napping, breaking up fights, snack feeding, sock finding, loving, nurturing and cuddling, thank the Lord for another day that you get to do it all over again and He will help you through it.

Yes, this even applies for Moms of teenagers. If you are in the place where you are in the midst of forgetful high schooler’s, when you have to make two or three trips because of forgotten items in the day, or you have to clean up the kitchen after they experiment with a snack, or finding clothes in their rooms and deciphering whether they are clean or dirty, or running back and forth to softball, baseball, choir, etc. simply thank the Lord for this opportunity and look for the blessings. You will find them and He will help you to rejoice in it.