Being Thankful to Have Peace… And Sometimes Quiet

Image of a mother and her son with eyes closed and foreheads touching gently.

A few days ago I was at an event for work and part of it involved a person speaking about their experience receiving legal aid and the impact it had on her and her family.  There’s no need to go into details.  Writing about the insurmountable obstacles she had to face is not what I think will get the point I want to make across to fellow parents who may read this.

But I cannot stop thinking about what this courageous woman said towards the end of her talk.  So I thought it worthwhile to share my reflection in the hopes that it will provide some perspective to others as well. What this amazing woman said after relaying experiences that everyone in the room, especially those of us parents, would never want to live, went something like this*:

I could not be where I am today without the help I was able to receive and the unconditional support of this team.  We are so happy now.  We are living our best, happiest life.  I am a single mom of four kids and I can say this is easy.  After what we went through, life is so easy.  You know why?  Because we wake up every day knowing we are SAFE and we have PEACE.

(*paraphrase of the actual statement, from my recollection)

SAFETY. PEACE. That’s all it takes, isn’t it?  At the end of the day, no matter how hard this parenting life is, no matter how many sleepless nights, sibling fights, temper tantrums by the (kids and the parents!), and so on… most of us here actually feel safe and at peace.  Imagine if we could wake up every day knowing that being safe and at peace at home is the biggest and most important blessing.  What if we could face whatever the day throws at us, always able to bring that little fact top of mind and just breathe?  Perhaps we would realize that yes, parenting is hard, but we are so blessed.  And maybe, being able to remind ourselves of this each and every day, could make things seem a little bit easier, and a little bit sweeter amidst the chaos.

What do you say we give it a try? I am adding a reminder to my phone and setting it to go off twice a day.  Will you do the same even for just a week or two and see what happens?