Hard and easy

It's hard living in a house full of boys.
It's easy to lose sight of the fact that God has bigger and better plans than mine.
Isaiah 55:9  As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

It's hard having E gone all week.
It's easy to get lonely and have a pity party.
Philippians 4:6-7 (The Message) Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

It's hard to prepare my mind and my heart to send my sweet, tender-hearted first born into Kindergarten, a new school and a foreign environment.
It's easy to make it about me rather than about HIM (God, not BigBoy)
Jeremiah 29:11 (The Message) I'll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.

It's hard to keep the boys busy, entertained, out of trouble for 14+ hours every day.
It's easy to lose sight of what is important and get caught up in the mundane.
Deuteronomy 11:18-20 (The Message) Place these words on your hearts. Get them deep inside you. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder. Teach them to your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning until you fall into bed at night. Inscribe them on the doorposts and gates of your cities.

It's hard to remember everyday that this time is short and is just that ... a stage in life.
It's easy to focus on the urgent but forget the important.
Matthew 6:19-21 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

It's hard to remember to pay some attention to my husband and to myself from time to time.
It's easy to focus on the boys and their needs for attention, time, daddy, mommy.
Ephesians 5:22-24 (The Message) Wives, understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ. The husband provides leadership to his wife the way Christ does to his church, not by domineering but by cherishing. So just as the church submits to Christ as he exercises such leadership, wives should likewise submit to their husbands.

It's hard to go outside my comfort zone and share my heart openly.
It's easy to take things inside and try to deal with them myself.
Hebrews 10: 24-25 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

It's hard to hand things to God and trust him.  Daily.
It's easy to pick those same things up later and try and deal with them myself rather than continuing to trust.
2 Timothy 1:12b I am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day. 

It's hard to be content.
It's easy to fall into the American dream for always wanting more.
Philippians 4:11-13  I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.


It's easy.
Matthew 11: 28-30  "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."