I have received a few comments, either in person or by email regarding the absence of new posts. I have started many, many posts about birthdays, Thanksgiving, my parents' visit, holiday parties and performances, inspiring talks at church, etc. but have not completed a ONE!!! Casting frustration aside, I offer some insight and then I am penciling some time into my schedule - probably New Year's Eve - to play catch up. Each post will be posted with its original date, so you may have to do some scrolling. Enjoy, and then check back later to learn why so few posts, who am I kidding, NO posts have been completed and shared in the last 5! weeks.
The other day I was watching a devotional talk on BYU TV as I did the usual...simultaneously clean house, do laundry, play with the little ones, clean food off the floor, kiss a booboo or two, pay the bills, make the beds. Okay, so maybe I wasn't watching, I was listening and rewinding repeatedly...Anyway, the speaker talked about last winter and how her grandchildren came over on a snowy day and built the biggest snowman she'd ever seen - absolutely HUGE! And in the coming days and weeks it continued to snow, and snow, and snow some more...so that eventually, the drifts covered the snowman and he disappeared entirely. But. A few months later she was picking strawberries in her yard, right there where those massive snowdrifts had been months before. Her point? Seasons change. Our lives change. Whether we want them to or not, they are going to change. My season right now seems to consist mostly of running. Not the mind-cleansing, jogging kind, but running to catch up, only to fall behind all over again. Don't get me wrong I love, love, love being busy and running and doing. And everyone knows that shirking housework and avoiding laundry and finding reasons not to cook are practically artforms for me, but eventually, the dishes have to be put away, the laundry has to be folded, and it would be great to feed my family a meal thoughtfully prepared by me with love, not angst to move on to the next task. So I'm reminding myself. These moments are wonderful. Most of the time, my daily duties and seeing the world through my children's eyes are like picking strawberries, but sometimes it can feel like standing in a snowdrift. So, I am trying to appreciate it and enjoy it. I am getting good at cleaning entire rooms by picking things up with my toes as I fold laundry or dust. I'm figuring out how to pay attention to the moments that count while dismissing the list of would've, should've, could'ves that often plays in my head. Like usual. And for the first time in my life I feel the need to remind myself that this is a good season. A really good season. And right around the corner? Another season. A different season. Hopefully another good season. But if not...another season will be coming along right after it. And eventually, I'll be picking strawberries...
