For many people, Sunday is a day of relaxation.
For parents of little ones… not so much.
It is the one day my husband isn’t working all day, so we try to make the best of it by going on family trips as often as we can.
But with naptime, lunch, and then making sure each child is reasonably dressed, it often doesn’t happen until late afternoon.
This week was one of those weeks.
We had looked up a park we wanted to explore with our bikes and scooters, and aimed to be out at two.
Two o’clock came, then three, and as we began packing the car, I looked at the state of my house in a panic. Having stopped all cleaning help since the pandemic began, the place was in desperate need of attention. I was tempted to stay in and make a project of cleaning up instead.
But now with schools closed and all of us home all day, we really needed to get out.
What to do? Leave the house for some air and risk living in a disaster of a house for the rest of the week? Or stay home to clean up and give up on the outing that we could really use?
It felt like a lose-lose situation.
Staying home was risky for our sanity.
But leaving the house as it was seemed like a pretty bad idea too.
Cabin fever won out, and we went.
The kids rode their bikes and scooters, chased their balls, and watched strangers in the park flying kites in the wind. We enjoyed the cool fresh air, wide open spaces and the big blue sky.
We returned home with our pizza, ate quickly, and marched the kids upstairs for the bathtime routine. And while my husband oversaw the baths, I grabbed a broom and shoved all the scattered things into a huge pile. The kids were mobilized to rescue their toys from disappearance, clothing found their way to the hamper, and the rest into a waiting garbage bag.
I couldn’t believe it. It was just 7:30, we had gone out, the kids all bathed, AND the house was in decent shape!
I collapsed into my bed for an hour. And then I got up, suddenly filled with energy for the next thing on the agenda.
And I realized the same thing I realize every time I get up and move even when I feel like doing absolutely nothing.
I am capable of a lot more than I think I am.
I have more energy than I expect once I start moving.
I am more creative, more patient, and more resourceful than I ever thought I could be when I set my mind to it and put in the effort.
And it occurs to me that it is exactly these circumstances arranged by G-d himself that allow me to reach my fullest potential.
Because I don’t know what I’m capable of.
I don’t always know what’s best for me.
But He does.
And He sets me up for it every day of my life.
All I need is the willpower to keep moving, and nothing will stand in my way.