Why You Should Be Counting the Wins

I had a menu plan for the week.  And I’m not always awesome at menu plans.  But this school year, as all the crazy starts back up again, I resolved to be better about planning ahead.

I remembered to set the meat out in the morning to thaw.  I put together the lasagna as soon as we finished up school work in the afternoon.  And I got the kids ready for the soccer game.

You would think they’d be old enough to do this themselves, but shin guards.  Anyone else struggle to keep their patience with shin guards?  Holy smokes, it’s great that those plastic pieces keep my kids’ shins from being scarred up and all, but sweaty kid feet and those all-in-one shin guards require an athleticism and patience all their own.

Anyhow, I was acing my dinner plan the other night. One lasagna ready to pull out of the fridge after the soccer game.

 

Except, sometimes soccer games run a little long.  And sometimes we chat with friends afterward.  And when you get home after 7:00 with hot and hungry kids and your cold lasagna is going to take a good 45 minutes to cook in that cold oven, you realize that your dinner plan is not awesome.  Your dinner plan is dumb.  How did I not foresee that lasagna would NOT work on a soccer night?

And so I fed them hot dogs.

For some reason hot dogs feel like the ultimate motherhood fail in my brain.  No judgement to any of you hot dog lovers out there; go on loving your hot dogs and be proud that your children are happy and fed before sundown.  But somehow, somewhere, I have set my internal dial of motherhood success squarely at Oscar Mayer.  I’m either winning…or it’s hot dogs.

It’s very intellectual and rational, the things we sometimes hinge our success as parents on. Don’t you think?

As much as I love the onset of fall it rattles me every single year.  I’m not new to this.  You’d think I’d be catching on by now, but somehow I consistently struggle with the change in schedules and routine when then temperature gets cooler.  I feel like it’s all rushing at me at once, like I’m trying to keep all of the plates spinning or maybe get them spinning and its all quite…well, wobbly.

And then this week I listened to this (worth your time if you need a podcast to add to your queue this week) – one of my favorite podcasts offering up a gracious reminder to count the wins.  It’s a grace-filled logic don’t you think?

 

Wednesday was our first day back to school after a long weekend away, making some great family memories.  Wednesday was a tough and productive day filled with school work as we tried to play catch up on some the things we shelved while we were out of town.  Wednesday we got to take a walk with friends, we got to play soccer, we had a friend over.  We had full tummies and went to bed at a decent time.  Wednesday was a win.

How ridiculous is it that I hinge on hot dogs?  And why so often do we see our shortcomings through a magnifying glass yet barely take time to notice all of the things that are going quite well – the wins?

I’m guessing I’m not alone here.  We all have our barometers.  We all forsake intellectual or rational logic at times and gauge our success as mothers, our success in life, on ridiculous benchmarks.

If you’re there, count the wins with me today.  Remember, today, that we are doing more than feeding meals, we are feeding hearts.  And that is what truly matters.

And amidst it all His grace is sufficient, even when ours isn’t.

Toss those barometers and benchmarks that don’t really matter.  Serve those hot dogs with a smile if your meal plan fails you tonight.  And smile even wider if you now have a lasagna in the fridge for tomorrow night.  Count the wins, friends. I’m fighting to count them right along with you.