I‘m linking this up over at 152 Insights to My Soul.
From Kristin: #ThreeWordWednesday is simple, really. I know we’re all busy with life and kids and jobs and parents and friends and church and whatever else it is that occupies our time. Some weeks I’m not sure what my post will be about, but knowing people will show up here on Wednesdays is good motivation to write something. #ThreeWordWednesday is a chance to pause and hear God. Sum up what you’re hearing in three words. Those three words are enough. But stories are good too.
Cherish the Noise
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This statement stood out to me so boldly as I read through Alexandra Kuykendall’s new book. As most of you know, if you’ve been around for a little while, I’m really trying to get up on weekdays before the rest of the house so I can take some time when it’s relatively quiet (I have VERY, VERY, VERY early risers) and spend some time with God. I usually get the coffee going, or pour it if I’m on my game and set the timer the night before, and sit down to read through a devotion and a chapter in the plan I’m working through. It’s really nice to start my day slow and with Him.
But like I said, I have VERY, VERY, VERY early risers. As in they were up by about 530 the other day. We have a few rules that we’ve kept the same since Parker was little about morning time. You can get out of bed to go pee at any point, but you must return to bed (duh). You are not allowed to wake anyone else up unless it’s an emergency. You can turn on your light to play starting at 630a. You may come upstairs at 700a. And as a little stroke of genius way back when, the clock in the boys’ room is set 15 minutes slow so we actually used to get some quiet until 715a!
People called us smart, brilliant, and all sorts of other awesome names.
Then came that third kid. I told you she was a something else.
While she’s only three so I don’t expect her to know all her numbers, she doesn’t even ATTEMPT to follow these rules. She will wake her brothers up without question. She will come hollering about breakfast just after 600a. She will yell and scream if we ask her to go back to her room until her brothers say its an okay time.
She’s getting better. We are working on it. But there is still an undercurrent of noise in the morning when I would really like quiet. But it’s the sound of the babies I carried for so many months. It’s the sound of them building relationships with each other. It’s the sound of them disagreeing and fighting but figuring a way to work it out because the brothers know better than to come get mom or dad unless it’s serious (usually… sometimes s/he looked at me constitutes an emergency in their minds).
And one day soon they will learn to sleep in (right? Please?) and I will have silence in the morning. And I’ll miss the undercurrent of noise.
“I needed this reminder that though I crave quiet now, there will be a day when quiet is the last thing I want. It will be an indication of an empty house, of my flock having flown the coop, of maybe even feeling forgotten. So as I cherish the quiet, I must learn to cherish the noise because I cherish from whom it stems.” (From Loving My Actual Life)
Plus, given how loud I am normally, is it any wonder that my kids have no volume control?