The Routineness of it All

"We all have the choice whether to see the mundane or the beauty.

"Most of the time, our family life is dangerously mundane.  Most of the time, we are in the living room, plopped on the couch and it all seems pointlessly ordinary.  Now and then we get flashes - we feel tapped into a very intense parallel universe of unbearable feeling.  But we do not hang out in that state of connected grace for very lone. We tend to forget about it.  We are back on the living room couch.  We ask, What is it all for? So we could sit on the couch together doig nothing particularly significant?

"Do not be fooled by those incredibly orfinary stretches into believing it is not something profound.  Do not be fooled into forgetting about the special moments.

"We all undergo this trial.  We are tested by this very situation.  Routinely.  The routineness of this test is part of its trick" (from Why Do I Love These People by Po Bronson).

So today, I tried real hard to look beyond the routineness of it all while . . .
- cutting seven boys' heads of hair
- watching four additional children (making it 12 children all under the age of 12)
- shopping for milk and bread (the cashier really asked me if we were having a breakfast party because I was buying so much for this family of 10 we have)
- doing two full loads of dishes in the dishwasher
- washing seven loads of laundry (and it's still NOT done)
- saying family prayer

And you know what? There is beauty all around!

Beauty to seen, beauty to be heard, beauty to be felt - and all while undergoing this "trial" of being routine.

And tonight, before I go to bed, I will thank Heavenly Father for it.

For giving me the experience - even if it is mundane.

For today, I really tried to enjoy the ride!