Count the Cost... and the Joys

My favorite thing about this picture is how David can look simultaneously EXHAUSTED & so joyful. That face pretty much sums up parenting.

Sometimes (and by that I mean at least once a week) my husband and I look at each other and say, "What the hell have we done to ourselves having children?" And our eyeballs go... O_o

Parents know that the joys of parenthood are the highest high you can have in this life, so they don't tell you the dirty little secret. Kids cost you everything. They impact everything.

Here's one way to describe the cost of kids:

You'll never sleep in again.

You'll never casually decide to go out again.

You'll never be able to "run" an errand again... it will forever be a painfully slow inch-worm crawl that requires an entire weekend of psyching yourself up.
You'll never look at a mirrored/glass/lucite piece of furniture again and think, "Well that looks like a good idea!"

But there's another way to count the cost...

When you sleep, you'll savor it like the best sleep of your life.
When you go out, you'll suck up each cocktail drop like a hard won prize... you earned it.
Even running an errand alone can have the effect of a day at the spa. Ahhhh. Silence.
Your house will take on a harried warmth and natural functionality that reflects your true life... and that has a cool beauty of its own.

It's all about your perspective.

In the Bible, James says, "Count it all joy, brothers and sisters, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness."

Joy in trials? That's weird.
But when you look for those drops of joy in your trials on the daily, you gain steadfastness. (Steadfastness... that's an awesome quality. That's a word I want my boys to use to describe their old ma. She's always there... she's constant... she's steadfast.)

Trials are par for the course with kids. You might as well look for the joy.

Your perspective will determine your perseverance.