Working Moms Don't Complain, Rejoice

Working mom, looking for the bright side

“Let us rejoice [in this day] and be glad in it.”  Psalms 118:24

As I was walking back from picking up my lunch, I realized that the Bible got it right. OK, don’t send me hate mail. I know that there are millions of Christians in the world who have dedicated their life to this point and wars have been won and lost in pursuit of protecting its truths. Stick with me for a second though.

In Psalms, it says, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

This basic point contains the essence of what life is about. You see, we get this one day and there are no do overs or guarantees. The Psalmist says rejoice without condition or explanation. He doesn’t say that we should only rejoice when things are perfect. He also doesn’t mention life’s challenges. And while I’m not an expert about challenges in biblical times, I know they lacked things we take for granted like electricity and wi fi. So, I am certain there were things to complain about back then. But nope, the Psalmist doesn’t mention them.  

So, not to proselytize, but there is a lesson here. 

The lesson is we have to rejoice. We have to rejoice despite our babies inopportune diaper blow out. We have to rejoice despite our child’s embarrassing and time consuming meltdown. We have to rejoice despite our fatigue and piles of laundry. We have to rejoice spouse’s refusal to comply with even the most basic of requests. And we have to rejoice despite our colleague’s lack of professionalism. We’re supposed to rejoice despite the traffic, the housework and the homework. I think we have to rejoice despite the bad hair days, prices at Giant Eagle, and the lack of an Aldi’s (or other quality grocery store) on the North Side of Pittsburgh. I think we have to rejoice despite the current political climate, how Kavenaugh wound up being on the Supreme Court, and the fact that despite our blood, sweat and tears (and money), it is impossible for the house to stay clean longer than thirty minutes. 

Don't get me wrong. These are real concerns. They matter. And they are frustrating! 

Still, even if you are not religious, recognize this, our life is a series of moments. It is not a series of destinations and accomplishments like graduations, weddings, and births. It is the child raising. It is the traveling back and forth to work. It is the grocery shopping, meal making, meal eating and cleaning up. It is the interactions with our colleagues. In these human, frustrating and real moments that we have the opportunity to achieve greatness. We can embrace the the reality of the moments and choose to embrace the enjoyment and eschew the exasperation . We have the power to determine how we experience life. And we can and we should, rejoice! Rejoice not because it is perfect or because everything went your way. 

Rejoice because THIS IS LIFE!!!