"Rainbow Loom" Memos from the Postpartum Trenches

"Mom, just worry about the step that you're on."

That's my wise-beyond-her-years five-year-old keeping me from flipping out trying to watch an instructional video about making a ladder bracelet on the Rainbow Loom.*

"Just think about the step you're doing. Don't think about the colors or anything else."

They tell you that your children will teach you about life. But you don't realize how often they will lead you. Parents become better people through their kids. Virtues are learned (or re-learned). Character defined and redefined.

Step by step. Bird by bird. One thing at a time. Petit à petit l'oiseau fait son nid.

I'm grateful she's there to remind me.

This is true for parenting. Little by little I can teach my children the reality of God in our lives, teach them to see the wonder of His hand in the day-to-day. She doesn't have to learn all of math tomorrow or how to be fearless in one day. He can take his time sitting up, take his time figuring out how the spoon goes in the mouth and the food goes down the throat, gently. There's no rush. Only steady progress matters. The rate is mostly irrelevant.

It's true for business-building. I may not be the best loved entrepreneur yet, but I can be.

It's true for my spiritual life. Sometimes I'm ahead, sometimes I'm behind. But my eyes are on Him, and we're both in it for the long-haul. Lent is the best reminder of that.

Step by step I can get the house cleaned for guests or get a blog post written. Step by step I can regain sanity or turn a stranger into a friend.

If I just worry about the step that I am on.

*Don't know what I'm talking about? Kiss your hands and thank the Lord.