Today I will be Thankful

I have a new sign that I made at the beginning of 2015. Tonight (or this morning) I am working on the third copy of this sign.

To see this sign finished, you can find it in my Etsy store HERE.

The sign reads:
Today I will be thankful, for all the little socks and the grass-stained jeans, and the endless piles of laundry. For there will come a day when the laundry basket is empty, and these days will be profoundly missed.

Friends, if you look closely in the above photograph you will notice the top of a laundry basket. This was not a staged photograph. I recently bragged (oh how I hate to admit this) how my children are SO healthy. We are rarely sick. And you know that sweet little Proverb (Proverbs 16:18 to be exact) which says this "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.". Oh, you guessed it. This weekend we were sick. Sick, sick, SICK. First the husband, then the baby. Then the second oldest, then the third. Then me. Yes, me. Prideful, prideful me. Only one escaped, our oldest, dear Anne. Sweet, helpful Anne.

I digress. Here I am at 12:30 a.m. on my twelfth load of laundry for the day, painting a sign about laundry, and how these days will be profoundly missed. And I got to thinking - is this true? Is this really, actually true? Will I profoundly miss the days of cleaning vomit off my one-year-old? Or washing load after load of laundry that has been puked on? Or waking up in the night to change those sheets? 

And I prayed. I prayed for the sweet, dear Mama who will receive this sign. As she looks at it hanging in her laundry room as she washes load after load of clothes and sheets for her little ones, who won't always be little, I prayed that these words will be a reminder to her to keep pressing on. Because the Lord sees the good work she is doing. I don't. I don't even know her, but the Lord does.

And you know what? I think that maybe, just maybe, these days will be missed. I think of my own mom, who washed load after load of stinky soccer clothes for me. Often late at night because I would remember, "Oh mom, we have a home game tomorrow and my white jersey is dirty. Can you wash that for me? Thanks!" and I would hop into bed, knowing full well that my mom would have that jersey washed and dried and ready for me the next day. Because that's what moms do. 

I don't know about you, but that's the kind of mom I want to be. Maybe my kids won't remember anything about me doing their laundry, but they will know they always had clean clothes to wear (okay, maybe they won't always have matching socks - but that might be taking things just a little too far).

So friend, wherever you are tonight, I hope that you can be thankful for all those little mis-matched socks. Because these days will be profoundly missed. Don't believe me? Go ask your mom.