In it up to my elbows

After a few comments that the presence of the Mrs. has been missed on the blog lately, I thought I better write again. Something to alleviate the heavy political and theological tones that can prevail here. Something to put a smile on your face, even though I wasn't smiling at the time!

Let me tell you about my day as a mom of 4 kids (Moms-to-be can go back to reading your "Parenting" magazines full of airbrushed photos):

Started the day off with 7 hours of very interrupted sleep, thanks to our 3 month old, Zach. A good hour was spent getting everyone changed, dressed, fed, and corralled back to the kitchen for some school time. I bounced around between the four children helping with addition, sounding out the letter "Ff", and reading books. We worked on memorizing the second stanza to Psalm 148 and the last lines of the Apostle's Creed (my kids are ages 5, 3 and 2). Pretty typical morning. A few dinosaurs popped in and out, but nothing eventful.

A nice hot lunch was prepared and set on the table, and just as hubby walked in the door to join us, I picked up the baby to have him by the table as well. This was met by my oldest son yelling "Mom, look at Zach!" I looked down, and sure enough, his diaper had exploded. Only those of you who have raised breastfed babies can fully appreciate the meaning of "explode".

This nuclear-level explosion warranted a full out bath, change of clothes for him AND ME, dismantling our excersaucer, an extra load of laundry, mopping the bathroom floor, and finally returning to eat a cold lunch after everyone else had finished. *Sigh*

Somewhere in all this I thought about the parallels of our sin and "the mess". Our sin is just as revolting to God as what I cleaned up this afternoon, even though it may come packaged in cute little bundles we want to cuddle. How humbling to compare myself to that slimy mess! And God didn't turn up his nose and daintily try to dab away some of our goo. No, He poured himself into our sinful humanity to bring us up out of the slime. Next Sunday when we get to the confession of sin part of the worship service, perhaps we won't be so flippant about it all.

And if you need a reminder, come babysit for us!