Tonight as I was washing my kids stuffed animals after kind of a nasty spill occurred over all of them, I realized something really important.
I often get frustrated by how many stuffed animals they have. I get frustrated by the mess they leave behind…kind of like Godzilla taking his stroll through Tokyo. Their silly arguments drive me crazy.
However…
One day the stuffed animals will be donated or thrown away.
One day they will be cleaner, but less interested in hanging out with me.
One day they will be gone, living their own lives and I will have a cleaner, but emptier and lonelier house.
I heard a quote recently that our children are not OUR children. We are merely their custodians on their way to wherever they are going.
We never know when the frustration of the moment will one day be the cherished memory that our heart aches for.
Of course we do want our children to learn how to be responsible and capable adults. We want them to understand that the world they will one day enter is not always going to have their best interest in mind.
We just have to be careful that we take the time to enjoy the mess, the arguments, and the stress…the whole crazy and chaotic experience that we call parenthood.
We don’t want to wake up one day to our hollow homes realizing that those moments are gone and we never took the time to recognize them for the blessings they were.
Michael Akitoshi Stinson
