the wild & precious life.

{from here via It's Mary Ruffle}

Okay, so here is the thing:

I have felt drained the last few weeks. July has, for lack of a better term, kicked my butt.

And I haven’t felt much like fighting back.

There have been car problems.

Late, sleepless nights.

A broken garbage disposal and a dripping faucet.

Soured milk and inconsistent cake frosting.

Worried, tired brains.

An absent, stressed-out husband.

Demanding work deadlines and a shower that won’t drain.

It’s been a lot.

There have been moments.

You know the ones.

When you look at the heavens and you dare to whisper the question:

“What’s going on up there?”

Moments when you’re sure you’ve been given more than you can handle.

Or at least you’re coming close.

But then, just when you think you’ve reached the breaking point, there are other moments.

Moments when family comes to the rescue.

Moments when you accomplish something you thought would never get done.

There are lazy Saturdays.

And clean, folded laundry.

Cakes that decide to come out of the pan without excruciating effort.

Late night runs for icees and long drives to the middle of nowhere.

Moments when you get to cry and laugh during Ramona and Beezus with the closest thing you’ll ever have to little sisters crying and laughing too.

There are waterslides and good books and snuggles on the couch.

Moments when God shows His goodness and when everything seems okay.

Because, really

It is.

Everything is okay.

And I am incredibly blessed.

The Summer Day

by Mary Oliver

Who made the world?

Who made the swan, and the black bear?

Who made the grasshopper?

This grasshopper, I mean-

the one who has flung herself out of the grass,

the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,

who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-

who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.

Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.

Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.

I don't know exactly what a prayer is.

I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down

into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,

how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,

which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me, what else should I have done?

Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?

{poem found and post inspired by Enjoying the Small Things}