Life is simple, but not easy

One of the recent conversations I have had with Jeff lately revolved around feeling good about what is happening in our lives. We simply feel that we are doing what we should be doing. We don't feel perfect, but we feel like our attention, actions, etc are where they should be. With my sister's family moving in with us in the next month or so we are really aware that this will put on a lot of stress on us, but we also feel that we will be blessed by having her family in our home. We feel like Kathy's family will help us in areas that we struggle in and hopefully we will be a blessing to them as well. At first when we felt like we should offer for them to move in (6 months ago) we thought we would be doing them a favor. As the time approaches I think we are realizing that it will be difficult (12 people in 1600 sq feet) with two families and life styles merging, but we are also seeing some of the blessings. Last Saturday we watched Jade for a few hours. She and MaggieMae played all morning and entertained themselves. They really enjoyed each other. Now I suppose that may wear off, but it really floored me how much they had fun together. It was also easier for me. I had lots of free time (not that as a mother that is my goal, but it is nice not to have to sing Wheels on the Bus 12 times in a row). As Jeff and I watched Jade and MaggieMae play we realized this would be a great blessing in her life.

I have also had similar experiences with other members of Kathy's family. One of Kathy and AnnaLisa comes to mind, where Kathy was able to make a teaching moment out of a casual conversation with AnnaLisa. But this was no regular teaching moment, this was on that demonstrated Kathy's skills as a teacher and her knowledge of Human Development. It was cool to sit and watch. I took notes. :)

Life is meant to be challenging. We are meant to go through trials and learn from those trials things like humility, compassion, self-reliance, when to ask for help, faith in Jesus Christ, etc. I don't think we need to seek for trials, it seems to me the ones that hunt you down are the ones that help you the most. The ones you let yourself walk into are generally the ones that you really knew how to avoid in the first place, you just were not exercising restraint, common sense, etc.

So when people say that their life is hard, I agree. But I remind them that it is simple. If it were easy, we would not be able to learn and then demonstrate ways to be more like the Saviour.