A Calm Moment

I've been off the wall lately. Feeling like my house needed to be tip-top, getting my running in, making sure I'm how I "should" be. Today started out that way as well. Me, getting all in a huff when the soup spills, mopping the floor--again. Then I thought--ORGANIZED--if I were more organized, none of this would happen. Right? RIGHT? Order would prevent the children from acting up, or making messes or or or... So I typed in a google search, to get some ideas for my more organized curriculum, hoping to make this kindergarten year even better, with me in control. Instead, my first click landed me here, on this poem, I believe, sent as an answer to my prayer--and not the answer I was looking for.

I Took His Hand and Followed
Mrs. Roy L. Peifer

My dishes went unwashed today,

I didn't make the bed,

I took his hand and followed

Where his eager footsteps led.

Oh yes, we went adventuring,

My little son and I...

Exploring all the great outdoors

Beneath the summer sky

We waded in a crystal stream,

We wandered through a wood...

My kitchen wasn't swept today

But life was gay and good.

We found a cool, sun-dappled glade

And now my small son knows

How Mother Bunny hides her nest,

Where jack-in-the-pulpit grows.

We watched a robin feed her young,

We climbed a sunlit hill...

Saw cloud-sheep scamper through the sky,

We plucked a daffodil.

That my house was neglected,

That I didn't brush the stairs,

In twenty years, no one on earth

Will know, or even care.

But that I've helped my little boy

To noble manhood grow,

In twenty years, the whole wide world

May look and see and know.

So, now, I'm on my way upstairs, to build a fort with blankets. And then we'll play with the musical instruments, rather than having a forced lesson, enjoying ourselves thoroughly. Then we'll sort laundry, but we'll do it together--racing to see who can find the most socks. I decided on homeschooling because I wanted to teach more deeply, not just surface topics that would be forgotten. Thank you, God, for the reminder.