Creating Order in the Chaos

I don't know about you, but I am a very organized, schedule oriented, planning type of person. Before having a child the life I led was quite simple to organize, schedule, and plan. Enter Mackenna Grace Folden. My precious daughter is a lot like me in many ways. She is stubborn, knows how to charm her daddy, smiles at all the right times, likes to make people laugh... but organized, scheduled, or planned - she is not.

For the first four months of her life I skated by with the "new mommy adrenaline" and an excitement to finally be a stay-at-home working mom. :-) Then the chaos began to get to me. At first I noticed a slight anxiety creeping up inside me. Anxiety quickly turned into anger and annoyance, which are neither very attractive character traits. Then came the realization that my life would never be the same and God wanted it that way. The balance between trusting God and making choices to "create" order in my life was a tough concept for me to grasp. While it's true that God is a God of order, He has allowed this amazing little life to create some chaos in my life. What was He teaching me?

Through much thought, I believe that God is teaching me that I am NEVER in control of my life, no matter how orderly, neat, and scheduled it may look like from the outside. He is also teaching me how to become more like Him in spite of chaos. What choices can I make to "create" order out of chaos, while still behaving Christ-like when life happens and my plans are blown out of the water. How am I doing with this, you might ask? Well, not so great on most days, but I am ever-so-slowly learning. I can have a schedule but I must always remember that people are infinitely more important than following a schedule. I can discipline according to God's word, knowing that, like me, Mackenna is a slow learner and I need to be patient, not frustrated if it's taking her a while to learn a concept. I can be consistent, by God's grace alone, to provide a stable, secure, and loving household for my children and husband. I can spend time in God's Word and in prayer, gleaning wisdom and counsel from the perfect example of a parent who creates order out of His children's chaos. And for this, I am so thankful and humbled. Praise God!