The beauty of unexpected things

A soccer ball in the laundry basket.

Thomas the Tank Engine on the dish drying rack.

An astronaut action figure in the front yard flower bed. 

These unexpected sights never fail to act as exclamation marks in my day, making me shake my head and smile. I mean, have you ever gone to water your plants and found a miniature astronaut staring up at you? It’s kind of bizarre. 

Motherhood is like that, though—the unexpected waiting just around every turn. Sometimes it’s Thomas the Tank grinning at you from among the dishes. Sometimes it’s a more meaningful discovery:

New depths of love in the middle of chronic exhaustion.

Bursts of joy while muddy feet toddle along your recently cleaned floors.

A more deeply rooted faith as you whisper prayers over children you love more than life itself.

These are the things you can’t learn by taking a class or reading a book. Motherhood isn’t something you can fully plan for, and that’s part of its beauty. It calls you to keep your eyes open, moment by moment—like searching for jewels on a treasure hunt, like sifting for gold in a river.

This post is part of a blog hop with Exhale—an online community of women pursuing creativity alongside motherhood, led by the writing team behind Coffee + Crumbs. Click here to view the next post in the series “Still Motherhood”.