Teammate

It’s 8:30 PM. The seat of my minivan is rattling. The music is turned up as loud as possible. With my peanut butter fudge ice cream in hand, I drive home alone and allow the music to reset my mind.

I lost it with my kids tonight. I was trying to clean up, but it felt as though they were undoing everything I was accomplishing. It seems that’s kind of how the whole week felt. Working tirelessly for what seems like, at the end of the day, no visible results of all the working. After I put the baby to sleep, I went and got ice cream by myself.

As I was driving to get my ice cream, I couldn’t help but be very grateful for my husband who is the best teammate. We talk a lot lately about how we are a team and just how important it is in our life that we work together.

Teaching our kids that our family is a team has had a greater priority in our home lately compared to years past. Maybe it’s because our kids are older and the concept of teamwork is easier for them to understand. Or, maybe it’s because my husband and I are older too. We have learned that life is much easier as a team.

We’ve learned (through many trials) that when we aren’t working together as a team in parenting, in ministry, in our home, etc, everything seems to feel heavier.

So tonight, I needed a reset. My husband saw it. I felt it, and unfortunately, my kids recognized it.

While the ice cream was physical nourishment, the 30 minutes of not having to make decisions or answer any questions is exactly what I needed mentally.

Could I have reset my mind at home? Yes. But it was a sweet gift to be able to get out of my house to reset my mind. By my husband encouraging me to go get ice cream, he was letting me know that he sees me and my efforts; even when no visible evidence exists; and that I’m valuable in our family team.

God uses our kids every day to challenge me to have a mindset of service. Some days the call to serve my family is not as hard, but some days it is. I’m thankful that on the hard days, my husband is the best teammate.