The socks on the shoe cabinet
This morning was rough. We stayed up late visiting company (which was totally worth it), but I ended up sleeping through my alarm. That on top of the extra list of ‘to-do’s at the end of the school year, the rush of getting kids ready for school, getting myself ready for human interaction, and getting out the door nearly broke me. To say I was frantic would be an understatement.
However, the last thing I want to do is lose my cool and show my children horrible behavior, but when I’m running behind and extremely rushed I tend to get a little grouchy. I lose my peace pretty quick on mornings like this one. Still, I was desperately trying to keep my joy. It’s something God has been working on me about and I hadn’t broke yet!
We had about negative ten minutes to do all the things I still needed to do and I realized that my son didn’t have any socks. He had to have socks because he needed to wear his tennis shoes to school. Going bare foot in sneakers is just not an option for my little guy.
As I bustled around the kitchen packing lunches, filling water bottles (btw…when did each kid bringing their own water bottles to school become a thing?), making breakfast, wiping breakfast off faces, hearing requests for second breakfast and turning them down, explaining for the third time why my kindergartener could not have a lunch box filled with only cookies for lunch, I kept thinking how I needed to grab socks for my boy. It was like an annoying itch I couldn’t quite reach to scratch. I need to get him socks, I need to get him socks, ‘No, you cannot have cookies for lunch,’ I need to get him socks, ‘where’s your water bottles?,’ I need to get him socks…
It’s not hard. The socks are in his room. We had clean laundry so I knew they would be up there. But when you are on borrowed time as it is, going up stairs seemed like the end of the world. I desperately asked my oldest if she’d go get him socks only to get turned down hard. She’s normally pretty helpful so this kind of threw me making my panic level go up another notch.
It seems so silly even as I type this out, but the fact that I did not have my son’s socks readily available was the cherry on top of a frustrating morning. It was the reason we were going to be more than just late. Because I didn’t remember to bring socks down for him meant we were going to be extremely late. Extremely late was unacceptable, it was unthinkable, it was going to send me over the edge.
That’s when it happened. Amongst the frantic rush and my mind being pulled in a million different directions God showed up. He was always there of course, but He made sure I knew. I was grabbing the kids shoes out for school and right there on the top of our shoe cabinet were two freshly washed socks for my son. Not either of my other kids socks were there, just his. The ones I needed right at that moment. I didn’t wash these socks, my husband didn’t wash these socks. My husband’s parents were visiting us from out of town that week and had done a load of laundry for themselves. His socks must have gotten mixed in with their clothes somehow. Nana or Papa must have pulled them out and laid them right where I needed them to be without even realizing how God was using them.
I was so thankful! Thank you Jesus for loving me enough to show up BIG for me even when it was something so silly. It wasn’t silly to me in that moment. It honestly felt like God came swooping in on a white horse and saved me from an evil dragon. And as if that wasn’t already enough, when I pulled out my sons shoes there were socks stuffed in them from the day before (I would gladly have used those in that moment), and when I grabbed a jacket off the shoe cabinet there were another pair of his socks. His socks were everywhere on and in that shoe cabinet. I didn’t have to move an inch to get his shoes and socks on him in one swift motion.
Of course, we were still late, but the joy of the Lord filled me up and the overflow went straight to my kids. We had a peaceful and loving car ride to each of their schools with hugs, kisses, and gentle good byes. As much as I hate to admit this, if those socks hadn’t been on the shoe cabinet the car ride would have been tense. I probably would have been short with each of them and rushed them to their classrooms with quick ‘love ya, bye!’ high fives. It would have left them wanting more from their stressed out mom. They don’t understand yet what these mornings can do to a mom who woke up late with too much on her plate. They do understand tense short answers from their mom and a rushed hug though.
I don’t ever want my kids to feel like I wasn’t there for them, or heaven forbid that I was always mad at them and stressed out. So when God gives me a gentle reminder of His love and to keep my peace, it changes everything. Those socks on the shoe cabinet gave me joy that has lasted all day. It has energized me and motivated me to be a better human today.
Even though the situation didn’t change (we were still late), I did. My whole demeanor changed. Thank you Jesus for the socks on the shoe cabinet.
What are your ‘socks on the shoe cabinet’? When has God gently reminded you that He loves you? It is stressful to have little sleep and more things to do than there is time for, but God always comes through. Nothing is out of reach for God to glorify. Don’t let our culture of business steal your joy. I might make a list of all my ‘socks on the shoe cabinet’ moments from the last couple weeks and stick them right on my fridge. What a great reminder of how much God loves us and all the reasons to keep the joy of the Lord.