2 = 4
6 = 12
4 = 8
Bear with me…
3 = 6
3 = 5
12 = 24
8 = 16
15 = 20
At what point, do we just say, “12 rolls. There are 12 rolls of paper towels in this package.”?
Hours of cleaning = dirty house
Hundreds of dollars spent on groceries = empty pantry
Five loads of laundry done = piles of dirty laundry
New shoes = shoes that don’t fit
New pants = highwaters
Scheduling in slowness = where did time go
Endless prayers for patience = losing it once again
Apparently motherhood math is similar to paper towel math; it just doesn’t add up. I do the to-dos, utilize the energy, give the effort, love the little humans with everything inside of me, only raise my voice if I have to say the same thing a third time, but still question if I did enough. Twelve rolls never feels like 12 rolls; how did the rolls run out so quickly? Maybe it’s because I’m doing my own math. And maybe that’s the point…it’s not supposed to add up.
God’s math, although it doesn’t add up either, is beautiful. Fish and loaves beyond our comprehension. Abundance in the lacking. An ability to continue giving when we think we’ve met our limit. Rather than attempting to figure out all the math; regardless if it’s one roll or 12, in God’s hands, whatever it is will be enough for what He’s calling me to today.
And maybe that’s motherhood. A bit chaotic, consistently confusing, and feeling depleted faster than we’d expect — yet we still have enough. Because when we place our “roles” in God’s hands, He stretches them further than what we ever could.
BUT…Bounty, Sparkle, Brawny, Viva, Scott, and the entire paper towel community: if we could just go ahead and agree on what one roll is, that’d be great!