This, too, Shall Pass?

I remember when Elizabeth was a new born. She cried an awful lot. We had trouble figuring out the nursing thing. I was tired and overwhelmed. Friends told me, "Hang in there. When she hits three months, things will get better."
And then there was Joshua. While Elizabeth started sleeping through the night at 9 1/2 weeks, Joshua took a while longer to figure sleeping out. And I was tired and overwhelmed, again. But people assured me, the sleepless nights would pass and I would make it through.
However, then I had to potty train him and that? Didn't go so well, either. My mom tried to encourage me by saying, "Karen, don't worry. He won't be wetting his pants when he's in high school."
Matthew did a little better when it came to potty training. But shortly after I thought he had it figured out, he started having accidents. Regularly. Too regularly. And Mom stepped in again saying, "This, too, shall pass."
Ahem. I'm still waiting!
Now Elizabeth is a pre-teen. And she is hormonal, I tell ya! Weepy, touchy, picky and precious all wrapped up in one. Some moments you want to squeeze her and not let go, and other times you want to send her into her room until she can get a grip on her emotions and remember what really matters in life. Yeah, until this, too, passes.

It seems the most frequently offered words of comfort I have received as a mother (And I bet the same is true for you.) are, "This, too, shall pass." Certainly, these words are true. We live in a bunch of phases and it is highly unlikely we will live out our entire lives stuck in one of them. Each one will pass.
But another one will come on its heels. We'll struggle to see the light. We'll become frustrated at times. We'll sigh heavily and maybe cry a bit. Then someone will come along with a hug and remind us, "This, too, shall pass."
And we'll look forward to tomorrow, hoping it will be better than today.

It was in this looking forward that I found myself in a sad position. I realized one day that I was dangerously close to wishing my children's lives away. With each trial, each unpleasant phase, I played the mantra over in my head, "This, too, shall pass. This, too, shall pass."
I rehearsed that mantra until the day I realized I was longing so desperately for tomorrow, that I was missing today. And I don't want to miss today, because today is the only day I'm guaranteed. I don't own tomorrow. And I surely don't want to arrive at some place twenty years down the road with a grandchild on my lap, wondering to myself, How did I get here? When did my children grow up? Why did it happen so quickly? I know I always wanted to get past the hard times, but I didn't mean to miss so much!

This is the heartbeat behind my new book, Finding Joy. I want to live in the present moment, not hang somewhere between today and the future. And the wonderful thing is, God has shown me that I can have joy in the present moment - in the midst of the trials, the frustrations, the mundane and ordinary - because HE is in the moment.
When I take my focus off the situation and fix it on Him, I find joy! This is a wonderful journey, and I hope you will join me on it - by thinking about what I've written in this post, and even getting a copy of the book when it's out.

By the way, my printer gave me a tentative completion date of "The week of 9/30/08." I'll open the give-away post next week!