good days and bad days

Wow, when I dreamed of career options, homeschooling and working at home never occurred to me. The time I'm looking back at is college. That is when I imagined that a big house with a maid was the secret to happiness.

I sure have changed. Now I am very content staying at home, teaching my son and working with other students in the afternoon. There is no maid and this house is anything but big. I know someone who has the big house and possibly a maid. She is not happy. Happiness is not based on possessions at all. It seems so obvious now, but it sure wasn't obvious to the younger me.

Even on bad days, when the little darling is whining and pouting, stomping to his room, leaving things unfinished and responding with anger when asked to finish them--yes, even then I find contentment in my life. This contentment must be magical and not based on the reality we see! And of course it is not. It is based on Reality that is not seen. I know who I am and to whom I belong. I know how safe I am there and how much He loves each member of this family. I know that He loves me on my bad days (when I whine about all kinds of things and stomp--at least in my head over the facts of life).

Can that be learned in a high pressure job with a big house and a maid? I imagine that it can, but somehow I think it is easier to grasp in a little house with a stubborn boy who is too smart for his own good at times. This is the One whose birth we celebrate this month. It makes the whole month shinier and newer than the rest of them, doesn't it?