New Mercies

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23

This verse has been on my mind all week. And no wonder—I needed it big time.

Have you ever seen a child throw a fit? A huge, gi-normous, record-setting, hysterical fit? Both of mine did yesterday. Whoa.

I have been trying to keep the kids up through naptime this week because Jeff has all of his National Board Teaching Certification stuff due next week, and I’ve wanted to put the children to bed early so he could get work done. Plan=fail. They haven’t been sleeping well, and yesterday, things broke down around here.

We attempted a playground trip. I told the kids we were going to make a couple of laps around the park with the stroller, and their reward for good behavior was getting to play. Good deal…everyone seemed to be in agreement…until Miller really understood what was going on. As soon as he saw the stroller come out of the trunk, he started whining “plaaayground.” I reminded him of the deal. He got louder. I buckled him into the stroller. Even louder. Tried to walk for about a minute. Louder.

We packed up the stroller and went home. Took fifteen minutes for me to get the double stroller squeezed back into the trunk. Miller screamed the whole way home. I felt horribly for the way the trip turned out, but I could not reward the fit. He slept for a while when we got home, so that was obviously the problem.

After Miller’s nap, we went outside to play and then decided to go to Momma Goldberg’s with Scott, Margaret, Colby, and Maggie’s new friend Emma. Emma and Maggie just love each other and wanted to ride together, so we moved Maggie’s seat to the middle of the backseat. Maggie got upset because she didn’t have a clear, look-straight-ahead view to her tv in the car. So she started crying. (Really?)

It was one of those fits where she began to stray from the original cause. She started screaming, “I…want…to…go…home…and…watch…Wow…Wow…Wubbzyyyyyy!” Tears streaming down her face, gagging, the whole nine yards. She was not being kind. We got to the restaurant, and after two long trips to the restroom with her, Jeff got her calmed down (He’s truly magic). Our Maggie was back. Not sure who that other child was…

At bedtime, I was exhausted and discouraged (We all were). But, whew, am I thankful for the Lord’s ever-renewed love and compassion. And I said a special prayer this morning that he would help me have that same compassion with my family today. That I can be forgiving, patient, and kind.

So thankful for a new day. Off to enjoy it...