Christmas Day this year was a bit hectic. We got up, rummaged throughout our stockings, ate breakfast, went to church, came home and opened the rest of our gifts, got the kids down for a nap, and prepped a large prime rib Christmas dinner with all the fixings.
For dinner, we had some friends over. In the midst of setting the table, grilling the littles some steaks on the grill outside, putting the final touches on dinner, taking drink orders, and with our youngest child screaming because he didn't feel well, one of our friends asked: How in the world do you do it?! How do you manage to juggle so many things going on at one time?!
My response: selective hearing. The truth is, I have super powers that only come with being a parent of multiple kids. My incredible wife has the same super powers, although she a bit more talented at using them. Selective hearing is part of it (a part I think I'm pretty good at, by the way), but at some point one more thing going on around you just doesn't matter anymore. My child screaming, trying not to burn things, getting everything on the table - the details didn't matter. To us, what mattered most was our family being together with friends for a nice Christmas Day dinner.
A few years ago, some friends needed a babysitter in a pinch. When we offered to watch their child, they couldn't understand how we could possibly handle watching their child in addition to our own children. The details of how that might work didn't matter. To us, what mattered most was helping friends.
Too often, I think we get caught up majoring on the minor and lose focus of the big picture. Let me encourage you: never let the things that matter most be at the mercy of the things that matter least.
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