May your seconds feel like minutes and your minutes like hours......

As I sat and rocked her...again...all while wishing I was the one to be heading to bed, I began thinking of this moment.  This perfect moment. Her warm body snuggled to me as we rocked in the antique chair passed on by great grandparents, never mind that her leg hurt or I was anxious to head to bed myself.  In that moment, it was just us. Her soft breath on my neck as she slept on my shoulder, unaware of her leg pain anymore.  And in that moment, I wanted the seconds to feel like minutes, and the minutes like hours......so when that time is gone I could hold on to that moment.

You don't have to tell me how fast time will go. It feels like only yesterday that she was my baby (I often tease her that I'm going to squish her up again to be my baby because she is too big), but yet it feels like tomorrow she will already graduate high school.  You never seem to understand your own parents' sentimentalism until you have your own children.


One of the reasons I love my husband is his sense of urgency with time.  Having lost his sister and dad too early, and lost contact with different close1 friends, he doesn't take time with those closest for granted. He is very aware of not letting anything take him away from our family, and very mindful of being intentional with the moments with our kiddos. At this moment, he's out working in the yard with his little shadow, whose heart was crushed when she thought she may not be able to join him. 

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Time waits for no one. I don't take any day for granted with these little ones, for I know none are guaranteed.


I read or heard once about someone who rocked their baby just one minute longer or snuggled just one minute more for they knew that season would soon be over and they would hold to those moments.  Psalm 90:12 (NIV) says "Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."

Today, lets be intentional.  Let's hug one more time, call just because, "be" in the moment, and reach out again.

May your seconds feel like minutes and your minutes like hours...so when that time is gone, you can hold on to that moment.....and know you spent it well.

When your dreams for others feel as elusive as the promise of Spring.

This past weekend we had a blizzard...yes, a full on record breaking blizzard with over a foot of snow dumped in one day. Yet, the calendar says it's spring. My heart is anxiously waiting...

I have hopes to for my little ones, dreams for their future, hopes for their character. Sometimes, those dreams can feel as elusive as my hope for spring. But I must remember that good things start small. If someday I hope for them to wash the dishes along side me, today I must submit to water spilled on the floor, dirty dishes "washed" and placed still dirty in the drain rack, and a constant begging for more water, more soap, and the other scrub brush while she stands next to me to "help".   I wait....

The snow covers my dreams of spring, and makes me anxious for how planting will happen next month. I wait....

But I must remember to look for the 'spring' moments mixed in with the waiting. Though her "But I don't want to!" and her pushing her brother show me her rebellious nature, her "I'm sorry, mama. Please forgive me for not listening to you" shows me her heart softening. She may kick, scream, or protest when she doesn't get her way, but she is one of the first to show compassion when you are sick, to pray for Jesus to heal you, and to pray for the sirens we hear. Spring is coming.

"While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” Genesis 8:22 ESV   It is promised. We won't be stuck in an endless winter.

"Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6 NIV

Whatever your elusive dream is for your child, friend, or loved one, trust that God is working. The spring blizzard may come and all may be buried under 13 inches of snow, but spring will come. The best things start small. As you wait, pray and patiently do your part to model and instruct, God is working to bring forth His new work.  He has blooms and blossoms planned out that we cannot dream of on our own. And one day, the snow will melt away and we'll see the fruit of our prayers, investment......and waiting.

Spring will come. 

Love is said a million ways

Love is said a million ways.  We most often think of the big dramatic first "I love you", which signifies this is more than a simple friendship. I remember standing outside my parents' house with my now-husband, and hearing him ask, "What would you say if I told you 'I love you'?"  It was a defining moment in our relationship, but even more importantly, he had backed up those words through months of invested friendship (getting to know my family, figuring out my favorite coffee, texting me Scripture verses, etc).

In the last couple months, I've been thankful for the many ways I've heard "I love you" through special actions of friends when I've needed it. I suppose this post is more of a gratitude journal coupled with a personal challenge to love others well.

Love looks like getting a text message from a friend just to ask how you're feeling that day.

Love tastes like chicken strips sent home with you by a friend because it's the exact food you've been craving for four days, and you quickly devour that bag in three days.

Love sounds like the quiet prayers of a two year old pleading with Jesus to help mama not be sick.

Love smells like your husband faithfully cooking supper each night because you're to tired to do it all.

Love feels like your bed when you are sent upstairs for a nap, when your eyes just can't stay open anymore.

Love tastes like Juice Stop picked up by your husband on the way home, because it's the only thing you can eat.

Love sounds like washing the dishes, because he knows you hate the dishes. And you simply say, "I love you too."

Love looks like flowers given just because.

Love sounds like prayers on your behalf being sent up.


Love looks, feels, tastes, sounds and smells like many things. The words may be great to hear,  but the actions give it power.


Today, how can you say "I love you" without using words?  And perhaps, start recording how often you "hear" it too. You may be surprised by the number of ways you've heard it just this week.

The book that read my mind: Decluttering at the Speed of Life

     

Have you ever read a book that seemed to have read your mind?  Somehow the author had thought of all your reasoning, excuses, fears, or imaginary scenarios and answered each one.  As you read through the book, you chuckled to yourself wondering how the author knew you.

Or perhaps you've had the opposite reaction to an informational book, where you wonder if the author has ever really struggled with the issue.   While they seem to have great ideas or even great photo proof of their successes, they seem to fire off good ideas and new solutions without any acknowledgement of the struggle to implement them. You may pick up some good ideas, but you'll never feel like a team member with them.

Deluttering at the Speed of Life is a book for real life people. Dana K. White is a real life messy house person who simply tells her story.  She shares real examples of stuff she's collected with grand dreams of marvelous projects or things she's stored for the possible 'future need'....for years.

Dana shares on the value of breathing room vs. the cost of storing something (your mortgage payment divided by the square feet of your home), our emotional attachments to things and dreams, and how to just start...even when we only have five minutes.

One of the best parts?  She writes it all with humor, grace, and a realness that makes it clear she's right there with you.

I bought her first book How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind and loved it for all the same reasons.  Her podcasts are also pretty simple, practical and humorous.

If you are a 'real life' person, who just wants another 'real life' person to share your journey, this book is for you. She will not share some fancy new organization system she invented or tell you how many shirts you should own.  Dana just lays out basic principles for simple home management in an easy to relate to way.

I was super excited to see this book available on the Booklook Blogger review program, and thankful to receive a review copy.  All of the views in this post are mine, and are not affected by receiving a review copy.