Finding the Magnificent in the Mundane
Scarcely more than six years ago, I occupied the editor’s desk for two nationally circulated home design publications: Signature Kitchens & Baths and Innovative Home. In addition to my responsibilities with those titles, I also served as the project coordinator for several custom publications. I wrote content (a lot of it), managed writers, fostered relationships with PR representatives, worked with a host of talented graphic designers, traveled for trade shows and press trips (LA, NY, Chicago, South Korea) and conducted no less than a few celebrity interviews (lunch with Manolo Blahnik, a house visit with Ty Pennington, a phone chat with Kathy Ireland and more). When not at the office, I was working on composing a book proposal aimed at high school and college-aged women. My work seemed demanding, fulfilling … important.
But eventually my husband and I began to talk about starting a family, and we both agreed I would serve as a stay-at-home mom when that day came. It would require sacrifice, but it was a sacrifice well worth the cost. So I resigned from my position and began to establish a freelance career, which would allow me the freedom of working from home. My former employer became a client, and I added other publications, as well as a few corporate clients to my portfolio.
Within a year of that resignation, we welcomed our first child, a boy, into our family. While I retained a few projects, the bulk of my work shifted from publishing to changing dirty diapers, round-the-clock feedings, seemingly endless loads of laundry and constant housecleaning. Two and a half years later we welcomed our daughter, and just recently we brought home our third baby, a little girl.
Thus, my days are now filled with those crazy, chaotic times that characterize life with little ones. I wake with a baby beside me, a two-year-old begging to eat, and a four-year-old getting into mischief. Immediately diapers need to be changed, the dogs need out and breakfast must be made. Little feet run back and forth from bedroom to living room, dragging out toys as they go. Crumbs litter the floor as breakfast is eaten, and tears are shed when the dog nibbles a bite of toast. It’s sheer chaos, and sometimes (more often than not), it can seem terribly unimportant.
In the midst of these seemingly mundane days, it’s easy to wonder if it matters.
My time as an editor seemed valuable, productive, creatively inspired. Whereas life as a stay-at-home mom can seem pretty redundant, inherently messy and exceptionally uninspired. When elbow deep in cereal crumbs and baby spit-up, it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture, it’s easy to miss the beauty for the mess.
And yet, real, tangible beauty does exist in the midst of all this commonality. God authored immense beauty. And He imprinted upon our hearts the desire to experience it and to create it. This life, these kids, this home, this mess … it’s all part of a captivating love story written by Him.
And that’s why I started this blog: so I would be inspired to compose beauty and encouraged to see with fresh eyes how this grand love story unfolds around me, even in the mundane moments. We often mistake the magnificent for the mundane. Let us not forget that beauty is found in the simple pleasures of every day: smudges on glass that reveal the perfect design of little fingers, flour littered onto the floor by a kitchen helper, the mottled blue in farm-fresh eggs, the scent of homemade bread, the baby’s blue eyes. This blog is a place that will explore all that through the lens of gracious homemaking, intentional mothering and inspired living. And through it all, I hope to inspire your faith and encourage your life compositions. So pour a cup of tea, pull up a chair, browse some posts, leave a few lovely thoughts and share this space with others. The door is always open, and you’re welcome any time!