Last night I was cooking dinner and something happened for the first time... I know that this is a feeling that I will remember for the rest of my life. Friends with older kids have told me about this but I had not yet experienced it myself.
My husband was doing some things on the computer which is set up at a desk in our dining room. Our 5 year old son was circling the living room, dining room and kitchen loop while making tracks with a variety of trains. I thought to myself, "Where is Kylee"? She recently had her 8th birthday and has been spending more time upstairs in her bedroom. She plays with her Barbies. She sits at her desk and writes/draws in her diary. She listens to music. She works with her Lego Friends creations. I took a look into the dining room last night and my heart was so happy to see her sitting at the table. She was working on some art project and was humming to herself. I realized that this was the "first" time that I had felt a bit sad thinking of her off enjoying something alone in her room while feeling a bit wistful that she was not down here with the rest of us. It hit me that this would likely become an all-too-familiar feeling over the years to come. Aaaaaahhh! Thinking and writing about this now makes me teary! A moment later I heard her asking my husband to take a look at something that she had drawn. They are both the artists in this family! He instantly stopped what he was doing and turned around to be fully present in the conversation with her and my heart was full. This is one area in which he does so much better than me. Granted, I am with the kids all day every day as we are a homeschooling family. Balance is important and at times I am in the zone while running my coaching business from here at home. But the combination of these moments last night will serve as a reminder for me to really hit "pause" on some of my endeavors in order to be fully present with the kids. And my husband!
Nearly two years ago, I read a FB status that JUMPED off of the page at me and was a deciding factor in some decisions that we were making. The statement simply said, "What you plant is what grows". What are we planting into the lives of our kids? There are a million things to do each week and sometimes the thought of proactively "doing another thing" can feel like too much. It has been my prayer that in my everyday life, I am living in such a way that what I am naturally communicating to my kids is planting good seed and is cultivating what is at work within them.
Yesterday morning I opened up my BibleGateway app to the verse of the day. It was found in Galatians 6 and as I read surrounding verses in that chapter, some questions that I have been asking myself and the Lord were swiftly confirmed to me...
Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life. Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life. So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.
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