Sunday School Is Working

Mornings around here can be frustrating. The first bell at school rings at 8:10, which means that I must hit the shower by 6:30 or all hope of a calm departure is lost. And even then, all bets are off on whether it will be calm. No, actually, I'd have to say the safest bet is that things will not be calm as we're preparing to leave the house. (What a luxury an attached garage must be.)

I have done nearly all that I can to enable my kids to be self-sufficient in the "getting ready to go" department. Their coats and snowpants are hung in plain sight on hooks low enough that they can reach them. Boots and shoes are on an open shelf just inside the back door. Hats and mittens reside in the clear plastic pockets of the huge shoe organizer hung inside a nearby closet door. Everything is within easy reach except, of course, the will to actually put all these things on themselves.

I was having one of my almost daily "getting ready to go" meltdowns as I directed the kids to don boots and place shoes in backpacks. "Mommy has set up the world so that you can do all of these things yourselves!" I ranted as I tugged a hat on a head.

Our daughter looked rather crossly at me and said, "You didn't set up the world, Mama. GOD set up the world!"

Right she was. And what I wouldn't give for a little help from God each morning to find missing mittens or coax a belligerent pair of arms into a coat.