Knee Deep in Chaos and Wading Through the Love

Wherever you are on the family spectrum, you have probably discovered that sometimes, family equals chaos.

Between the topics of “children are a blessing” and the posts on “praying for their future,” we meet the crazy schedules and demands of every single day, and sometimes we wonder if we are really doing any good at all.

I won’t pretend that being a family is easy. Sure, there are days when I look around and feel great peace and see the profit in the work, but more than I care to confess sometimes, it just feels as if I am knee deep in chaos.

Chaos does not mean being busy all of the time and looks different for each of us, but the crux of the family is the moving and the shaking of teaching, molding, cautioning, praising, all while we are cooking, laundering, caring and sharing. Our time and our efforts may all be jumbled together some days, and we begin to wonder if there will ever be a day of calm again.

Raising a family can tug and pull at our every limb and draw the breath from our lungs when we feel we cannot… teach one more character lesson, wash one more dish, or tuck another sweet child back into bed after the midnight bell tolls.

And the irony in the chaos? We are wading through love. Pure, sacrificial, rewarding love. And there is nothing better than finding love at every turn, whether it is from the sweetness of a toothless toddler, or a teen returning to your heart after a conflict. In the absence of any peace and love we may not feel reciprocated in the chaos some days, we can always, always find the Father’s love in each wave and lap of doubt that sweeps past us. His love goes on forever.

If you are feeling the stress of the world seep into your home or seeing a breakdown in your family communication little by little, perhaps it is time to return to 1 Corinthians 13. We need to remind ourselves of the remedy. That while the work will never be done, and it is sometimes hard to see far into the future, we can return to believing in the foundation and creation of the family.

When a family is knee deep in the Father’s love, nothing can pull them under.

Knee deep. Our family has been to the mountain tops of joy together and has walked across the desert together. We have faced conflict of the wills and prayed on our knees for a child we weren’t sure could hear the Spirit. Our lives have been mixed with busy schedules and pushed fiercely through raising a standard when it wasn’t too popular. And through it all, we were holding hands together – wading in love – even when the undercurrent may have been strong.

May I encourage you to ride out the waves of chaos – together?