It’s been different at our house over the last few days; for example the rooms have been left undisturbed since Carly and I last went into them. Wonderful! The reason?
 

Well things changed (a lot!!) when our daughter was married last year. No longer do I find these strange looking plastic things near the washing machine after they have fallen out of her nurse’s uniform pocket, no longer do I have to race for the shower in the morning, no longer do I have to share my socks with her.

 

This week our eldest son has been away on a course and our youngest is away camping so our drive is not packed full of cars that are abandoned rather than parked. No matter how often I ask them not to leave their cars in the most awkward of places it seems to make little difference.

 

The kitchen has been much neater, the sink free of loads of mugs and greasy plates, the result of late night “feasts”, and the fridge is not bulging with loads of pints of milk. The tops are still on the jars of peanut butter and jam and there are no strange looking blobs of greasy stains on the kitchen floor that may have over spilled from the plates and subsequently half-licked up by the dogs.

 

Unwashed plastic drinks bottles used by the boys for making strange concoctions of protein drinks are not left near the Rayburn so that they warm up wafting unusual smells into the air and you are not quite sure where the smells have come from.

 

It’s quieter too. The kitchen ceiling, which is full of cracks, is having a respite from the thud of the bass from the hi-fi in the bedroom, there is no banging of car doors at 2 am in the morning when the work late-shift is completed, and the sound of mobile phones continually ringing from texts has fallen silent.

 

Suddenly I have found that my computer is responding much quicker as the line is not struggling to cope with two other computers downloading the latest episode of Hero’s or a film which is 3 hours long. At last I recognise the benefit of broadband and that it is quicker than dial up.

 

This “peace” won’t last long though, within a few days it will be back to normal.

 

I sometimes wonder if things will be different in the future. Will I ever have a shed that is free from surfboards, skateboards, wet suits, bikes of all sizes, crash helmets, bits of old toys, car floor mats from previous old bangers that are no longer with us, stuff that was made in wood work lessons at school, the odd dolls head and action man uniform etc. etc. Will I be able to use the phone when I want to use it instead of having to make an appointment to do so because a meeting is being arranged by one of the boys where half the population of Cornwall seems to be involved.

 

I sometimes wonder if a time will come when life will be quieter, ordered, neater, cheaper

 

I know what will happen though… when the house is clean and neat and quiet and…lonely, when the drive has just Carly’s and my car in it, when I will be able to go into my shed, and know that it is my shed, we will look back at the times we had and start to invite the grandchildren to stay with us, and the noise will start all over again.

 

May be that is what Paul meant when he wrote to the people in the Philippian church “I have learned to be content with whatever circumstance that I am in”. Great word that “content”

 

Mind you Paul did not have to contend with two dogs who are still around and whose mess has to be cleared up!!

 

Till next time

 

Rich

 

Inspired by some writing by Charles Swindoll