Called to Rise

I love a part of a poem that says, "You never know how high you are 'Til you are called to rise."

I think this rings true for all mothers. I have felt this is especially poignant in my life during these last 5 or 6 days. In my last post I said that I am the only one not sick. I suppose if I am completely honest, I am a little sick. My sinuses have been achy the last 3 days, and I have a slight cough, but nothing compared to how the rest of the family has been feeling. As soon as I started to feel it coming on, I stuffed myself with Vitamin D, garlic pills, lemon water, and acidophilus . . . and I am still doing that. I keep feeling like I am about to get worse and then, somehow, I am able to not only make it through each day of caring for 4 sick people, but to do it cheerfully.

I ask myself, "how is this possible?" I am not this person. I am the mom who loses her temper a lot, doesn't have natural patience, who hates to be inconvenienced, and who sometimes gets tired of always being the one to take care of everyone. Well, either some other person is working through me vicariously or someone is helping me to realize how high I am.

It has actually been such a confidence booster to see how much I can do in a day to care for others . . . and cheerfully. I say that again, because that is the part that surprises me the most. Sure, I can do a lot of things, but more often than not, I do it while complaining to myself and scowling at my husband and kids.

I have seen myself rise to hard things before, but never like this. I hope I can remember this on a day when I don't feel like rising to much more than out of my bed. I think we have experiences like these to help us have something to look back on to remind us of just how strong we really are.