Soiled and Dirty

Lately, I have been thinking dirty thoughts. No, not that kind of dirt......

.......this dirt. I live in a home with 4 young children who love getting dirty, and a husband that often comes home with cow manure and blood smeared on his face and arms. I cannot escape this dirt... or manure for that matter. I am slowly coming to grips with the fact that this dirt is part of my life. Will I accept it? or fight it?

My children hold out their hearts in their messy, dirty hands....waiting for me.
Do I take them as they are, dirt and all and love them as God wants me too?
Or do I scold, and gripe, and worry about the dirt and manure?

My husband stands, waiting for me to accept him: the manure, the blood, the iodine stains as well. To welcome him with a hug and a kiss and not a sharp word of complaint about how he smells, or how dirty his boots are. To thank him for the long hard day he has worked to provide a warm home for me and our children.

After all, our lives are just a drop in the bucket of this great universe, a flash in the pan .....
..... here today and gone tomorrow.
And if I spend my life complaining, worrying, and griping............. I will miss this.
Because life is beautiful.....
but there is sometimes lots of dirt and soiled clothes
involved in enjoying the beauty.

So today, I am challenging myself to let go
.....of the complaining, the griping, the worrying.......
and accept my children and husband just as they are.

After all, that is what Jesus has done for me.

Linked to Chatting at the Sky -- Tuesday's Unwrapped. Feel free to click over and see what other bloggers have unwrapped today.