When my children were small I spent a lot of time trying to juggle their needs, work, house work, church, time with Mr. Wonderful and social obligations. It seemed like there was never enough time in the day to get everything accomplished.

Consequently, we didn't have the cleanest clothes, the neatest yard, and the cleanest house. My mother was a wonderful house keeper. You could eat literally eat off her floor as her house was so clean.

You could eat off my floors too.....the red stain is where someone dropped spagetti sauce on the floor, the brown dots are oreo crumbs, and that sticky spot on the floor that just sucked off your shoe was where someone spilled Gatorade and didn't clean it up.

As hectic as those days were.....they are fond memories, now that my chicks have flown off to establish their own nests. I am reminded of some truths heard on a radio talk show by Kay James.

"Every woman juggles many things. Some of the balls we juggle are rubber-they can be dropped and will bounce back at a better later time in our lives. However, some of the balls we are juggling are crystal. Delicate, priceless balls, they cannot be dropped and picked up later on. They break quite easily. Our children are those magnificent balls. Please don't drop them during the years they are in your care; let the bounce-back kind go instead. A woman can have it all....she just can't have it all at once. There are times and seasons for everything in woman's life."

Looking back over my life I treasure the time spent raising our children and look forward to spoiling our grandchildren. I know I will never do anything as important or meaningful as rocking a baby, taking a meandering walk with a toddler, or reading "The Cat in the Hat" to an adoring grandchild for the 99th time.

John Whitehead once said, "Children are arrows we send into a time we will not see." I'm glad I invested heavily in mine.

Labels: Bible Study, juggling, Mom