Overwhelmed by Blessings

Jake Frost turned to his mom for wise advice when he thought his family had too much to do and not enough time to do it.

The end of the school year is a hectic time. The last minute flurry of projects always seems to come in a deluge right at the end, when we’re barely holding on, trying to make it through the final mad dash to the finish line. This year we had two science fairs, a family history project, an illustrated book, a Rube Goldberg Machine, and a diorama of an ancient Roman villa.

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Plus two of our kids have birthdays in the last few weeks of the school year, and there’s a half birthday at school for another. My wife and I also have our wedding anniversary, there’s Mother’s Day, and this year one of my daughters won an art contest at the local library, and that victory came with a Saturday-afternoon award ceremony.

I can’t remember the last free weekend we had with no scheduled events.

It was starting to wear me down and, truth be told, I was feeling a little frazzled.

So I did what I usually do in such circumstances: called my mom to grouse.

And Mom offered a different perspective on things. She said: “Every one of those things is a blessing. Maybe if you acknowledge your busyness as blessings it will help. Sometimes how you look at things makes all the difference.”

It sure did for me. I realized Mom was right. I’d been overwhelmed by blessings, when what I needed to do was appreciate them and take the time to say "thank you."

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I’d been overwhelmed by blessings, when what I needed to do was appreciate them and take the time to say "thank you." #catholicmom

Heading into the transition to summer, with its new schedule and all the adjustments that will mean, I’m going to try to transition to a new view on the hecticness of our family life. I want to enjoy the wonderful blessings hidden in this whirlwind and remember to say thank you to the One who provides them!

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