Look at that! See all the dog-eared pages? (PS. why is it called dog-eared?) There were literally tons of quotes and thoughts I wanted to remember and be able to come back to. As I read through the pages, I got so excited about this vision of intentional parenting and really...intentional living. Parts of it I read aloud to my husband or simply gave him my summary of it.
Eryn Lynum writes 42 mini chapters revolving around a life event that showed her an eternal principle. She discusses topics such as spending time in nature, dealing with anger, having a house filled with laughter, helping kiddos learn to entertain themselves, setting boundaries between work time and play time, being mindful of what our kids observe us holding the most (our phone, a book or their hand), investing in a child's dreams/interests, building memories, and many other topics.
The premise of the book is that with each child we are (ideally) given 936 weeks from birth to age 18, and our question is: "How will we spend them?" I say 'ideally' as time is never guaranteed to us. Some may only have one penny or 237 with which to invest. The author was given a jar of 936 pennies at her son's dedication, which started her journey of being intentional as she transferred a penny each week from the future jar to the 'time spent' jar.
I love her perspective at the beginning of the book.
"As I counted them out, I placed them into the new jar, and this is when it hit me-we had not lost those weeks. We had used them We were using them for the creation of something beautiful. These pennies, and the weeks they represent, were not being cast to the wind. They were being invested. And we wanted to invest them wisely." (Counting Time, pg. 18)
I haven't been on this parenting journey very long, so I have much to learn. I'm thankful for books like this one that give me vision for how it could be. This book gives me goals and dreams for how I want to intentionally invest each one of my pennies. Things like listening carefully to my children's dreams and taking steps to help them pursue them, recognizing the beauty in the simple moments such as our "Poetry Tea Times", setting down my adult tasks or goals to enter into their world, and being careful what I communicate through actions, what's constantly in my hands, and through my words so they hear my love for them loud and clear.
How will you invest your 936 pennies?
I was given this book by Bethany House Publishing for review purposes as part of their blogger program. However, all of the opinions were completely mine.
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