Lenten Discipline Revisited

Yesterday was Tuesday, right? I thought so. Only all day yesterday, I could have SWORN it was Monday because it felt just.like.one...

Our Tuesdays are those days where we get up in the morning and by 8am I'm shuttling myself and all six kids out the door and into the car for a whirlwind of school drop-offs and pick-ups, morning Mom's Group at church, and a few miscellaneous stops along the way. Needless to say, it leaves a couple of the youngest crew on the ark a little nap-deprived, to say the least, which becomes all too apparent by late afternoon (aka the "Witching Hour" as I've heard it called).

Normally, when I leave to pick up the big kids from school, I wait until precisely the last moment to head out so that everyone gets the full effect from the rejuvenating effect of afternoon naptime (Mom included). Yesterday, however, there was no point, really, in waiting to leave as there were no naps occuring. As I only had the two aforementioned nap-missers with me, I decided that not napping in the car was as good as not napping at home so we quickly loaded up and drove to school. We arrived and were early enough to get a middle-of-the-crowd spot. For a few minutes, while I sat waiting for dismissal, in the relative quiet of yesterday, I remembered a whole host of things I needed to do. As I scavenged my purse for a pen and paper, I succeeded in finding only the former. Surely, I thought, somewhere in this car is something on which to write down the thoughts that were threatening to escape my brain. I scanned the car again and then I saw it. No lovely, seasonal notepad color-coordinated to go with the pen I was brandishing. No, my solution sat in the cup holder next to me. It was a tissue, otherwise clean save for the piece of cinnamon chewing gum I had discarded in it earlier in the day. I snagged the tissue and began furiously writing on it until the bell rang and the car doors opened and broke the short-lived silence I had enjoyed.

So this morning, I was reviewing my "notes", after a successful grocery trip with the three little ark members and during the morning nap of the youngest one. The phone rang in the middle of my "work" and I shared with my dear friend and H's godmother how, vanity permitting, I should post a picture of my pathetic little tissue. It would be a piece of concrete evidence to the people who erroneously (trust me on that point) believe that I always have my act together...all of the time...every day. I remebered my Lenten discipline, that I was going to let God work on my need to present that very same image and thought, pride-schmide, I'm posting the picture. Come to think about it, I think it's here less for everyone else's eyes, and more for my own, for days like yesterday and for those to come long after this Lent is over.

"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in my weakness." So I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me." 2 Cor 12:9