The Promise

FINALLY. The kids are back to school today. Yes, after three weeks the routine has returned and I have to admit I am so glad. Just quietly I think they are too.

It has been a different holiday for this family of seven. My man worked through this school holidays, taking just a long weekend in the middle. The weather here has been awful. Cold, wet, stormy weather, true to winter in the southern part of Australia. Our home has been partly painted so we have experienced the aftermath of a pseudo renovation – think weeks of unpacking and reorganising kid’s chaos. And I have been tired. Maybe it is the winter blues, perhaps it is midlife discontent. Just maybe my fight for joy has been superceded by being overwhelmed by the ordinary, staring at four walls and the groundhog day nature of domestic life with a large family. “Mum, where are you Mum!” I know you understand – the days when every child calls your name twice, all at the same time. When the needs and wants turn into commands, when the boredom is offset only by another movie because it is so wet and cold outside. The kids want sugar and you want wine – at one o’clock in the afternoon.

Looking over my holiday snaps I was struck by this image. Looking over the river in our beachside town. It was an ordinary day – we were attempting a family walk, with grumbles  and stumbles and cajoling along the way. And there was a rainbow. In the midst of the greyness of the day, in amongst the familiar scene of Port Fairy there was a promise. Hope. Beauty. Colour.

I realise there are daily reminders in creation, in the words I read, the people I meet that all provide me with hope, encouragement and a new way of looking at life. I just have to be willing to see them. The little ray of sunshine that causes the bow in the sky. The presence of joy that is there if I will see.

You make known to me <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-14104A" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;" value="(A)”>the path of life,  in your presence there is <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-14104B" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;" value="(B)”>fullness of joy; at your right hand are <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-14104C" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 12px; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;" value="(C)”>pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11