Encouragers: The Chaos Of Joy Mother
October 9, 2022
I’m sitting at the desk at gym, taking payments and checking liability waivers for our open gym one Friday at noon (every Friday noon to 1pm is Open Gym – basically, allow your kiddos to expend all their energy just before naptime!). She pulls up into the handicapped parking space. I smile.
This woman is such an amazing encourager to me! She has overcome more physical and medical challenges in her life than I could ever understand. She has five little ones all five or younger and normally is accompanied by at least one nephew in the same general range. She is such a blanket of calm mothering in a sea of chaos – and her smile! Such joy! She chooses joy!
I call her the “Chaos of Joy Mother” because you’d think her life with five littles zero to five years old would be chaos. (I see some of her posts on Facebook and yes, it’s laughable, amazing, lovable chaos!) Add in farm animals, countless stunt-double-training apparatuses in their kid-ninja-warrior yard, kids turning the house into ninja training course, and homeschooling… I love her beautiful chaos! She’s the type of calm mother I hope I am. Minus the goat and stretching births out a bit, one of my girls pointed out that there were some family tales we turned into “The Funny Sisters” stories that are probably relatable.
She encourages me by her love of life! She is always doing something new or allowing her daughter to try something new. They grow in love, life, and faith by expounding on the adventures life hands them. This is such an encouragement to me. I pray for them and thank God that I see her. She probably doesn’t see herself as an encourager, but she totally is by the joy she shares!
Sometimes chaos is where you find your joy. I know some of the craziest moments in my life are where I felt I couldn’t do anything else BUT find joy in Jesus and look up.
While I’m driving to my first school on our afterschool pickup route, I happen to hear “Season, a Joy Bringer” and I smile at her anecdotes. She is always focusing on how to share joy. I feel the Chaos of Joy Mother is always sharing something she finds joyful with us – some see it as joy (like me) and some as craziness (are you kidding, you did/allowed what?!). In our journey of life, I am super thankful for those who encourage me. I pray I am an encouragement to others.
I’m super thankful for the Chaos of Joy Mother because she and her little angels always make me smile with their love, wildness, and crazy adventures!
Type at you next time,
~Nancy Tart