A few of my daughters love for me to do their hair.  Poor boys–with six ladies in the house, they are quite outnumbered and it is reflected in the way that barrettes and hair ties and nail polish, etc. have taken over our two bathrooms.  It can be quite the production for us all to get ready in the morning!

But, here’s the thing.  A couple of those same daughters that so love for me to do their hair?  They don’t keep their hair done.  Instead, it is done in one moment, and then undone the next.  This may be because their hair just couldn’t keep up with their lifestyle.  But, it is also often simply because they purposely undid whatever it was that they had just asked me to do.

This, my friends, is parenting in a nutshell.  Doing the same thing over and over, while very often seeing whatever it was that you just accomplished being undone right before your eyes. Aghhh!  (If my hair ever looks undone, it may be because I was just banging my head against the wall.)  😉

Do the dishes.  Again.  And then again.  Cook food over and over.  And laundry?  Don’t even get me started!  Those are the things involved what can be the daily monotony of parenting.  Beyond those things, though, are the more “serious” issues like having to teach your child the same lesson over and over and over again.  And teaching values that they seem to understand in one moment and completely violate in the next.

The reason for this is simple:  Parenting is a marathon.  Not a sprint.  (Most of life is like this actually.  It just sometimes can be more easily seen in our homes.)  And that isn’t a bad thing!  But, you have to have the correct mindset or you will grow frustrated by the distance, rather than finding your grove.

Children are “in process”–just as we are.  And, isn’t that a good thing?  Nobody that I know wants their children to grow up overnight.  In fact, most often we feel as though they grow up too fast.  That is why it is important that we don’t waste their youth lamenting their process.  Why we must embrace the journey and enjoy each mile, rather than straining our eyes constantly for the finish line.

Once we do that, we accept the parts of the journey that can be monotonous, because of the joy the rest of the journey contains.  Sometimes I wonder why I am taking the time to do the hair of a little one who is just going to turn around and undo my hard work in mere moments.  Then I realize, “Wow.  I get to do her hair.” and it becomes almost a holy moment, because I know that these days are fleeting.  Soon I will be leaving this leg of the race for the next and the opportunities that this part contains will be behind me.  (Thankfully the next part has “holy moments” all its own!)

Jamey and I were once at a church where the Pastor and his wife did endurance sports–marathons, an iron man and even an ultra-marathon.  This makes perfect sense to me now.  The reason is because they had eight children.  What could be better training for endurance sports than that?

I don’t know that any endurance sports are in the cards for me in the future.  But, I do know that being a mom has strengthened me.  It has trained me to be able to endure in other areas of life.  I am so thankful for that.

Mostly, however, I am thankful that I was chosen as the one who gets to be on this amazing journey with my kids.  It may be grueling at times, but it is so worth it.  It is filled with such joy if I will only choose to see it.  I think I may even hit my stride soon.  Then, watch out!  My hair may be undone, but here I come!  😉