Dancing in the Kitchen

Last night, I was cooking dinner and cleaning at the same time.  Our kitchen was a disaster, and Andy was supposed to be home any minute.  Daniel was sitting in his Rock and Play holding a ball and watching me work, and we were listening to Pandora’s “Easy Listening” station on my IPhone.  All of a sudden, Stevie Wonder’s “You are the Sunshine of my Life” came on, and as I turned to fill a container with soap water to scrub two days worth of dirty bottles, I caught my sweet boy grinning at me.  I couldn’t resist scooping him up to dance to the song, and in the middle of a messy kitchen we swayed to the music, adding a few cuddles and kisses for good measure.  The song was over in a few minutes, and Andy came home to a fully cooked dinner and a nearly clean kitchen.  The moment cost us practically nothing but earned a precious memory where Daniel felt his mom’s love and attention.

 

I quit my job to stay home with Daniel this year.  My job is not the only sacrifice we are making for me to stay at home.  We recently bought a house, and though I like it enough, it is certainly not my dream home.  But, the payments are reasonable and help us meet our strict budget requirements.  Things that we could do without thinking – like going out to eat – must now be carefully managed and tracked.  However, my life with my son looks much different than it would if I were working, too.  I don’t miss any of the little moments with him.  I was with him for his first smile and the first time he rolled over.  I know him better than anyone not only because I am his mom but because we spend all our time together.  I am not against daycare, and I do not believe all moms should be stay at home moms, but this is the life I wanted, and I’m so thankful for it.  What I’m noticing, though, is that even though I am purposely staying home to have more time with Daniel, I still allow myself to get caught up in the day to day busyness.  I wake up each day with a “to do” list and sometimes that list can overshadow the reason I’m home in the first place.

 

It is important to me that Andy comes home to a clean house and dinner – I want him to see that I have done something with my time.  So, last night, I was feeling the pull to let Daniel sit alone and play with his toys while I finished my chore.  I was so caught up in what I wanted that I almost missed a little moment with my baby.  I know I can’t spend all day dancing in the kitchen with Daniel.  He needs to learn to entertain himself, and I can’t live in a messy house.  But, it occurred to me last night that having a Christ centered life is about looking for the times when we can put others ahead of our “to do” lists.

 

Right now, Daniel is my main mission field, and it is my job to show him how much Jesus loves him.  Setting aside little moments to model that love is important to teaching him about the Lord, and in the long run will have a much more lasting impact than a clean kitchen.  There is a beautiful quote by Maya Angelou that says, “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”  When I was teaching, it was a quote I tried hard to remember (even though I failed often).  I can almost guarantee that my former students will have a hard time remembering specific lessons I taught, but I bet they remember, for good or bad, the way I made them feel in the classroom.  Making students feel loved and safe often involved taking a step away from my daily objective to talk to them in the hallway about a personal issue or shaving a few minutes from my already short lunch to ask about their upcoming soccer game.  I think what I’m learning is that making other people feel cherished usually interrupts what I’m doing.  It puts the half clean kitchen on hold or it puts me two minutes behind running those copies or it takes me away from my morning workout for a bit, but in the end, the investment in the relationship and the opportunity to share love is absolutely worth it.