There are so many moments when I want what I want... mostly time and quiet..... but I am learning to take some more of those deep breaths and look into the eyes of the children and get lost there...... I know that some where there is a balance but I am wondering maybe not........
"Play with me," Gregory asks.... Rebekah wants to play a game or watch a movie.... and I want some time... sometimes just to do something as inane as playing a game myself on the computer... or read something on the web. What are the things that steal time from us... that steal the life out of a family.
We all love our distractions whatever they may be..... Is it a product of the society we live in.. the high pace... high technical aspect of our culture.... I'm beginning to think we aren't as advanced as we would think... especially if those advancements steal from us the very thing that makes us human.....
Yesterday I was sitting in the sun room with Elizabeth on my lap and Josh was sitting on the sofa (on top of a pile of laundry I must say.. sorry mom) and the other children ventured in.... we didn't have any striking conversation for the most part we just sat in silence... But it was in that silence that life flowed into the room..... A sense of that which knits us together... now, Josh will tell you that he was just too tired to get up... and maybe I was just too enthralled with the moment to even breath but there was something strong in that moment that witnesses to the fact that in the silence of that moment was life and the being together was strengthening....
The truth is found in the book of Isaiah .. 15 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:
"In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength, "
In that quiet moment yesterday I found a strength. It is lost when our family doesn't take the time to turn off all that would scream for our attention. It is lost when we each go our own ways during times that we could all choose each other.
Believe me I am not saying always but how many times do we choose to do something inconsequential instead of choosing to take that last bit of stored up energy reserve (or even scrap the bottom of an empty tank) and curl up next to each other and laugh and talk and be silly and chatter about nothing and everything and finger paint and the list goes on and on
..... today we will do a Christmas Mad Lib just for the fun of it......
Today we are making a trip to Walmart for the second year in a row for the buying of the junk cereal.... once a year the children are allowed to pick out two packages of any cereal they want... I participated last year and found myself reliving the tastes of childhood in a box of Pops and Fruit Loops... :)
Then off to Target for sibling presents and then home again ... home again to enjoy a HUGE box of chocolates and tons of hot chocolate courtesy of some very old friends.......
I must take photos... I can feel it in me the need to chronicle this day in pictures....
I can't wait for the laughs that will come and the joy that will be ours and the peace that comes from knowing we are far from perfect but we are who we are and I love every bit of it.....
I welcome myself to day 10! Have Fun.... (I'm talking to myself here).... Have fun.. grab a hold of those kids and hug them and kiss them and laugh with them.... hold the sounds in your heart... hold the sights in your mind's eye and breath in the strength that being together brings......
love today for it will never be able to be relived... speak life today into those children of yours for there is so much they face that would tear them down... don't be one of those ..... watch and wait for those quiet moments to whisper into their ears a blessing of life..... surprise one with a hug from behind.... and twirl with Rebekah... oh every day I must remember to teach her to twirl.... (It is something between her and I --- side note here .. one day walking up the hill towards the house I took her hand and extended her as far from me as I could... and we twirled and spun around each other and I told her to twirl through life...... don't just walk the straight path but twirl... twirl up the street... twirl in the mall... twirl.. twirl ... twirl.. no matter who is watching.... for maybe they will learn to twirl too!)
Have a great day 10.. self... have a great day 10~~~
2 comments:
I love you twirly Driscolls. Thank you for sharing your fabulous thoughts and reminders :) It is a little more difficult to remember to twirl when the children are grown and gone...
So Funny side note Christmas mad libs.... uhm I think our family might be in the Bart Simpson or potty mouth section of mad libs... pre teen boys giggling and talking about poop, (did I just say that).... Bekah chiming in because she wants to belong and me... well, I'm taking more of those deep breaths... Learning that although the moment wasn't maybe what I would have liked it to be.... we WERE all together... with a few shut-ups and a few "hey wait you skipped me"... we were together and I even got a few laughs out of the whole thing... not Hallmark.. but Driscoll will certainly do.....
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