This afternoon there was dirt and grime all over the kitchen floor. Little Miss had been playing in flour pilfered from the pantry and had tracked it back into the kitchen. Mess was everywhere. So I grabbed the broom and dust pan and once again set into that never ending task of sweeping.
No sooner had I begun when I heard the familiar sound of Baby V scooting around the corner. She smiled and motioned to be picked up. I put my task aside and gladly complied.
I felt like I was stealing something. As if that moment wasn’t mine to take. I played with her for several minutes, enjoying the baby giggles and cuddles, then reluctantly put her down to finish my job.
Later the thought came back to me again that what she and I had was a stolen moment. That thought stopped me and gave me pause. Isn’t something stolen not mine to begin with? And if it wasn’t mine whose was it? I realized, in my flawed thinking, I was stealing time from my task. In essence, I was making the sweeping up of dirt more important than lavishing love on my baby.
With God’s grace my thinking will be renewed. The tasks of Mothering elevated above the inane task of sweeping.
Has there ever been a time when you felt guilty for spending time with your children because there were more ‘pressing’ duties to attend to? How have you combated those feelings?