Balance: Gratitude and Grace-Filled

by Christine Capolino on Mar 21, 2013 in Featured, Parenting

©Heidi Bratton Photography

As the mother of two lively boys, athletic boys, theater-loving boys, exploring boys, immersed-in-everything boys, I am forever seeking. Forever balancing. Forever juggling. Forever discerning.

Activity versus stillness. Sound versus silence. Society versus solitude. I still, now for fleeting moments, still, have a measure of control over the feeling, the tenor, the rhythm of my children’s days.

There is a distinct, absolute, tangible widening between my vision of a harmonious family life and our real life day-to-day journey. The ebb and flow of home-comings and goings. The hectic pace required to meet volunteer commitments, timely arrival at rehearsals, practices and team events. In our homeschooling journey, we are truly blessed to spend much of our life’s journey, many of our days, together. Living, learning, immersed in our shared schedules. Yet, as the boys grow ever more independent, the actual time we spend together, be it involved in academic or leisure pursuits, inevitably shrinks. Maintaining a balance becomes ever more vital. And ever more challenging.

We, Moms, are efficiency experts. Checklists abound. Deadlines are met; daily and, yes, yearly educational goals are accomplished; volunteer work is done; dinner is served. Yet, we, Moms, also strive for a quality in our lives that has nothing to do with checklists and goals met.

We know that none of this could be embarked upon without guidance. We cannot do it alone. We are meant to do it alone. We need our Lord and Savior. We need to know Him. To seek Him. And blessed us! His omnipresence is reassuring and revitalizing. And redemptive.

All we need do is whisper a quiet prayer. A few words of gratitude. A few words seeking patience. A few words offering a burden to a soul in purgatory; a soul who has no one. A few words which will envelop us in peace, in comfort, in the softness of the Lord’s love. A few words which will allow us to continue in our daily work, our daily graces, in our vocation of motherhood.

For we know we are blessed. We are grace-filled. During this season of repentance, during any season of our lives.