"Dirty Dishes"

Last week I was cleaning the kitchen. The kids were working on some of their bookwork. I had 5 pans of tomatoes roasting in the oven. The counter like always was full- of produce, dishes-clean and dirty, and junk.  I am sure someone, somewhere in the house was whining or fighting. It was raining, which meant all 4 dogs were still in the house. I was feeling a little overwhelmed. I had Pandora radio on and a song came on. Something about the words made me stop and listen. Here are the lyrics:

Mama hollers "Supper time,
And don't make me tell you twice
Wash your hands and wipe your face.
The table's no place for your toys,
And try to use your inside voice,
Don't dig in 'til we say Grace."
So we put down our forks and bowed our heads
And then she prayed the strangest prayer ever said:

 
"I wanna thank You Lord,
For noisy children and slammin' doors,
And clothes scattered all over the floor,
A husband workin' all the time,
Draggin' in dead tired at night,
A never ending messy kitchen
And dirty dishes."

We all got real still and quiet,
And daddy asked "Hon, are you alright?"
She said, "There ain't nothing wrong,
Noisy kids are happy kids,
And slamming doors just means we live,
In a warm and loving home,
Your long hours and those dishes in the sink,
Means a job and enough to eat.

So I'm gonna thank You Lord,
For noisy children and slammin' doors,
And clothes scattered all over the floor,
A husband workin' all the time,
Draggin' in dead tired at night,
A never ending messy kitchen

For my little busy bees
Beggin' mama, mama can we please?
Always wantin', needin', callin' me
Loads of laundry pilin' up
Crayons crushed into the rug
And those little sticky kisses
And dirty dishes,
And dirty dishes..."


It made me think. Motherhood is hard. I think we all know that. Maybe it's not motherhood as much as it's being a woman. We tend to let our selves get pulled in a million different directions at any given time. But how you deal with that is all about perspective. It's about seeing the silver lining to any given situation. And all the laundry, dishes and noisy children that make up my life....I wouldn't trade them for the world.

And if you want to hear the song, here it is.