Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Every Little Thing by April Jeppson

My kids just got on the bus and the house is quiet. I know as I get older and my children move away, I will miss the early morning chaos. Well maybe I won’t miss the chaos, but I’ll miss the sounds of their little voices echoing down the hall. The more I think about it, I’m pretty sure I won’t miss the tornado of clothes and school paperwork that seem to appear every day before school. I wonder what it’ll feel like to have a clean house?

Right now, at this moment, I’m loving the silence. It’s oddly windy this morning, and it almost sounds like the ocean — the way the waves beat up against the shore. All that’s missing is the sound of seagulls flying by. Any time I’ve been near the ocean I think, man this sounds like wind — but I can see the water, so I know it’s the ocean. I can also hear my neighbor’s wind chimes. The sound makes for a nice replacement for the missing birds. Normally, I’d just hear a cold winter’s day outside, but today I bet I could trick myself into believing I’m at the beach.

It’s only a month until spring break. There will still be snow everywhere, but then a month after that, there will be grass. I know that there will still be the possibility of snow and cold for a while, but this morning I have hope. Not just hope, but a sense of calm knowing that springtime is on her way to see us. It’s not the actual warmth and thawing of spring that comforts me, but the knowledge that it’s coming.

I’ve had to use this mindset many times in my life, sometimes many times in one day. When my children were little, my thoughts often drifted to the fact that this moment was fleeting. At the time I may have been changing the diaper of an infant while my toddler was screaming because their sandwich wasn’t cut into the correct shape. I vividly remember thinking, “At some point the crying will stop.” Kids can’t cry forever, right? Sure enough, the crying subsided. It wasn’t when the screaming stopped that I became comforted, it was knowing that eventually it would — I just had to wait a little bit for it.

Jobs can be hard. So can raising children and staying married. Being stuck in traffic, or stuck inside when it’s freezing out. No matter what your current situation, sometimes the mere thought that this too shall pass, is enough to make it OK.

On the flip side, perhaps you’re having an amazing week and everything is going your way. Maybe you got to snuggle a baby and feel the warmth of the sun on your face and perhaps the sand between your toes. The expression, “This too shall pass,” works both ways. Cherish every wonderful moment, because just like the bad moments, good moments are fleeting as well.  

So, while I can, I’ll take a few more minutes and enjoy the sound of the ocean right outside my door. 

Albert Lean April Jeppson is a wife, mom, coach and encourager of dreams. Her column appears every Saturday.