Do you ever envy what you think is going on in everyone else’s household daily?

Well, today for some reason was a really stellar day.

I got a few minutes alone to reflect and pray before everyone was awake. Then I ate a pretty healthy breakfast at the table I felt good about, while the boys drew pictures and we started our homeschool work. I read out loud for half an hour while they made bookmarks. I completed Math with each kid while the other took a shower and then switched.

By 1:00 we had finished school, eaten lunch, done chores and played 2 rounds of UNO. 1:00-2:30 was quiet play time throughout the house and by 3:00 I had dinner in the crockpot and was bored, thinking this was the longest, slowest but greatest day ever.

I even got to chat with a friend on the phone, graded essays for the college course I teach online, played Legos, watched a cartoon, and sent them out to run circles until Dad got home.

I do not say this to brag. There really isn’t much to brag about actually. Yay, I did some workbook pages and threw some beans in the crockpot! I should write a book!

This was a pretty ordinary, unremarkable schedule. For many this probably sounds extremely boring. But for us there had been peace, fun, learning, work, and reading together. A good schedule, a reasonably clean house, and variety. A sense of accomplishment birthed out of the mundane. Dare I say, a satisfying, quiet day at home.

What I realized today is that I think this is what everyone else’s day is like ALL THE TIME!

And I spend a lot of time wondering why I can’t get it together?!

WHY? Who tells me everyone else’s day is going smoothly and peacefully? That all my friends are untouchably awesome and that my days are mediocre and not quite enough.

Why did this day of relative peace seem special?

For me, the surprising revelation out of this is when you find yourself on the brink of a discovery that makes you settle back into your seat relaxed instead of springing forth into action. Often I think learning or discovering something must propel me into a new mode of accomplishing twice as much in half the time, by some new magical means or fantastic organization. That’s why thinking about “getting better at being me” often leaves me stressed. I assume it will fail. Again.

When God would be pleased for me to relax and bring peace into the room.

One thing I am learning lately is to simplify the long list in my head of what a really awesome day is. This has led me to discovering and accepting what pieces of my schooling and parenting are most important to me. I need to slow down and schedule in UNO as part of our day because it resets everyone’s mood. It just does. And if I have a more realistic expectation of what HAS to be cleaned or baked in a day I can leave time for games.

Their little hearts need me not to be neurotic about dirt or determined to be an entrepreneur on the side. And the day is sweeter when we are slow, unhurried, and do our few things well. And ironically “accomplishing” less can be satisfying if I exchange impatience and destined frustrations for peace.

I think credit must go to our breakfast prayers this morning to love each other with the love of Jesus and be in step with the Spirit. His Spirit leads me to be patient with tears, and cereal crumbs, and long subtraction problems. His Spirit leads me to make more time for snuggles, and books, and long Lego explanations. His Spirit’s rule is making a difference in my day we all will feel. And that will make more days feel special.

With more room for calm. And less room for envy.

So, we must stop once in a while and ask, “What is a good day for me?” What really matters and are the right things to count as “enough”, no matter what I think is going on under everyone else’s roof?

For us we are trying to live by a simpler list that meet the Themes I live by-

Fun. Bible lesson and drawing. The school Basics of English, Math, Reading and anything else of interest. Listening to music/review work. Sharing responsibilities. Everyone being quiet some part of the day. Eating together and laughing. Listening and hugging. That’s good. That’s enough.