I'm living the dream?

By PaisleyJade - Wednesday, June 16, 2010

When I was young, I dreamed of becoming a Nun. 

No one in my family is Catholic, and I hadn't seen The Sound of Music too many times... I think it was the romantic notion of women calmly wandering about in robes all day that appealed to my innocent mind... or maybe the fact that the idea of moving out and getting married to some strange guy as a little girl seemed very scary indeed.

I even had a backup plan (if becoming a Nun didn't eventuate) which was moving out and living with my bachelor Great Uncle Bill.

In the end (thankfully - but no offense to Uncle Bill) I met and married a wonderful guy, and all my innocent dreams of becoming a Nun evaporated rather quickly.


I think there is often a certain romantic notion that comes along with getting married and raising a family (once that childhood fear of leaving home has dissipated).  Picture the beautiful wife wearing her freshly-ironed pinafore, as she daintily hangs out crisp, white sheets on her washing line, while the children happily frolic in the background, with a beautiful baby sleeping soundly in a pram nearby (well, to be honest, I had images of Symon and I living in a Kombi van while touring around New Zealand surfing and living the dream... a rather selfish but beautiful dream). 

That's what some of us thought it was going to be like didn't we?


When reality sets in, it can hit you rather hard.  After countless nights with no sleep due to a screaming baby, five loads of washing hanging on the line (and the ground) during a thunder storm, too many bills to account for, including a mortgage bulging at the seams and not one ounce of energy left to even rustle a kind word, it's a wonder that you aren't packing your bags for the nunnery at the first sight of dawn.  That, and the fact that you have realised your deepest and darkest fear... that the guy that you married has discovered what you are really like when no one is watching (or listening).

Yes,  marriage and parenting is a beautiful and serene thing isn't it?


There is something that I have discovered over the years full of love, joy, heartache, hugs, tears and biscuit crumbs down the back of the couch... that life is all about your perspective of reality, not in reality itself.  The age old saying about the glass being half empty or half full actually has quite a lot going for it.


And how do you change your perspective of reality, I hear you ask?  

It's quite simple really... it's choosing to look past the temporal things to what really matters.

Truly loving them, despite their faults.
Choosing to be thankful, rather than complaining. 
Finding something to hope for, when everything else seems hopeless. 
Choosing to forgive, even though it isn't deserved.
Seeing those countless hours spent folding washing, making lunches and patiently stroking the head of an unsettled child as more than the mundaneness of parenting, but pure love in action.

Choosing to look up, instead of looking around you. 

I know it's easier said than done, but I'm thankful that with God's help, it is possible.

My greatest example is Jesus, the One who did the lowest of tasks out of pure love, the One who sees the heart, rather than the exterior, the One who loves us, even when we are unlovable.

Yes, I'm living the dream... while standing on my muddy lawn and getting the soaking wet washing off the line.

And I'm thanking the Lord for my clothes dryer. 





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33 comments

  1. Fantastic post Kristy. So true. Thanks!!

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  2. This is fabulous. So well written, real, and encouraging. Thanks. BTW your followers are multiplying. Funky blogging chick you. :)

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  3. Lots to take out of this post Kris. Love it xx

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  4. the dream is more honest, grittier and more beautifully dimensional than i had ever imagined.
    yes!!
    thanks xo

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  5. I loved reading this
    and thanking the God for all that He is and the hope and attitude He gives us

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  6. nail on head!

    love the unsettled child-head stroking bit, i just had to do that.. hit home :-)

    fantastic post!

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  7. Fabulous post thank you. And a great reminder. Love the looking up bit.

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  8. Anonymous1:07 am

    yup!
    it all comes down to choice
    and that great role model Jesus helps!!!
    Awesome post Kristy
    so glad you are living the dream!

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  9. Beautiful. Totally brought me back to what being a wife & mum is all about. Thank you X

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  10. thanks for being a great role model and inspiration xo

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  11. i love this post. i'm feeling this same way lately! instead of being grouchy and tired through these newborn days, i'm reminded of the gift that children are! the Lord is rich in blessings!

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  12. Anonymous9:18 am

    ps loved the Sound of Music!!
    when I was pregnant and sick with The Scientist, The Rock Star and I must have watched it 12 times or more!!!

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  13. oh man! so here right now!! crazy. I almost didn't click over this morning when I saw the title and the pic of you and hubby. I inwardly groaned... please no offence to you!!!I'm just so not in the space this morning to hearing what I THOUGHT I was going to read...(about someone else's idyllic life and amazing relationship). But this post was AWESOME. So true.
    REAL
    Such a (gentle) kick up the pants that I need too.
    Thanks p.j xoxo

    p.s I watched sound of music almost every day for awhile when I was a kid. whenever life was too crazy for me i would always write in my diary that i was going to run away and become a nun! haha

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  14. Have been reading your posts for some months since discovering it on Kiwi Mummy Blogs, but haven't got around to commenting before even though I always enjoy reading. I love your enthusiasm for life, your energy and today's post was so apt for where I'm at. Just back to work full-time after kiddie no. 2 and finding it tough juggling working with also looking after sick kids, trying to be a mummy, and getting everything done around the house.

    The part about 'pure love in action' is so true. It's so easy to consider these things a drag when really it is such a heaven sent privilege to become a parent.

    Your post has inspired me to Count It All Joy!

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  15. great post Kristy!

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  16. How did I miss this??? Great post post; you're so spot on. Love it :)
    xx

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  17. wow Kristy, made me stop & think.
    it is a great dream and we forget that sometimes when things aren't so half full but kind of empty.
    I would not swap my life as a mum for anything!
    great post...thanks ♥

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  18. Great post :) I have been thinking alot about how I can truly embrace homemaking and motherhood/making my reality and dreams line up.

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  19. Wow! awesome post and just what I needed to hear. Im even going to save it to my favourites so I can keep going back to it and remind myself. Your perspective is spot on. Thank you.

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  20. Great post, it really is all about perception isn't it.

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  21. GREAT ADVICE... Love this post!
    I also need to give a shout-out for that last picture you posted of your darlin' little princess... it is adorable!

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  22. luckily that you have not become nun! ;)

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  23. Awesome post PJ, Given blessings missed in the rush :) xxx

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  24. Hehe-- I wanted to be a nun, too! So glad my hubby changed my mind : )

    I LOVE this post. So full of truth and the beauty of marriage and motherhood! Every single day I have to remind myself that what I'm doing is eternal!

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  25. what an empoweringly hopeful post - thank you. just what i needed.

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  26. Anonymous8:41 am

    Fabulous, inspiration, well-written. Thanks for the hopeful thoughts today. I found you on SITS BEst Kept Secrets links.
    Glad I did :)

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  27. I heart you...so real, so honest...you are one of my heros.
    I love that line...what seems mundane is actually love in action.

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  28. Really good post PaisleyJade! Perfectly said.

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  29. Fab post..how on earth did I miss that one???
    So real so true!
    Though, I cannot ever imgaine you even raising your voice.... or growling... or getting frazzled.. can you vlog it when you do please!! ;)
    xx

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