the gift of the present

  As I was coming home from the mall the other day, I made a phone call to a friend and she teased me about being at the mall in the middle of the day....the thing is, I squeezed in the mall trip in order to get my mom's birthday gift and some favors for the dinner we were having for her birthday (which was the next day).  I commented that it would be nice to have the cushion of time...so that I'm not running around the day before the event, trying to pull things together.  But, that's not the season that I'm in at this time. 

 Right now, I'm:

* working at being a present and attentive wife (you can't take a vacation from your marriage...ever)
* running a household of 5 (6 if you count my mother in law who lives with us)
* home schooling 3 kids (high school, middle school, elementary school)
* teaching every week in a co-op class
* helping with administration for a home school basketball ministry
* making time for friends and family (relationships take time and nurturing in order to grow)
* exercising regularly (heck, I'm 42...I've gotta do something or it all goes south!)
* probably some others...but my mind is too jumbled to think of them

So, my husband gently pointed out that I was spending too much of my time complaining about the busyness.  And that rather than complaining about the busy-ness and the lack of time, I needed to refocus and be thankful for the fullness and the overflowing of all that's in my life. 

Then on Friday, I sat at dinner with one of my mom's friends who had lost her husband of many years to cancer.  He'd battled cancer for 12 years.  (I'm sure our sitting together was one of those Divine Appointments.)  She is a widow now and rather than cry about how lonely she was, she told me that she's enjoying this season of her life.  Of course, she would rather have her husband with her...but she's able to focus on the blessings that are around her. 

For example, she was having 6 orphans from Africa to spend the night at her house while they were here touring with a choir.  Her husband wouldn't have really encouraged that and so now that she's alone she can open up her home in ways that she couldn't when they were a couple and she needed to think of his feelings and desires. 

 She said, that when she was a mother raising her 5 kids, she couldn't imagine how she'd survive when her kids went off to school and careers.  So, she asked the Lord to help her to enjoy each season that He placed her in.  She didn't want to miss the blessings of the present over fears of the future or wistfulness over the past. 

 She said, that He'd done just that....He allowed her the gift of enjoying the right now.  When she prayed that prayer, I'm not sure she had any idea of what the future held.  But of course, none of us have any idea of what our futures hold.  What a blessing it was to talk to her and be encouraged to enjoy the here and now.  So, currently I am honing my focus in on all that I have and all the blessings in my life.  I'm sure I'll need to readjust it from time to time (in all honesty), but I'm thankful to the Lord sending me people who can speak truth into this season of my life...I don't want to miss a minute of the joy because we all know how fast the seasons fly. 

{all the photos are from a special afternoon that John Samuel and I spent together at a local park}