:: Daily-ness

 

This past week my little sister Joy, and her 8 week old son stayed with us.  Simon quickly stole all of our hearts.  And made us realize how grown up our not-so-little-baby-Blaize is.  Ellie especially loved holding Simon.  Even though they are back home now, we keep waiting for them to come upstairs and join the party.

 

 

 

I was reading a book this past week called Mitten Strings for God, by Katrina Kenison, and can't help but share a little bit from it.  So so good.

 

(background:  The author - young mother - found some writings from an older woman who had just died from cancer.)

 

Writings:

"I have learned to quit speeding through life, always trying to do too many things too quickly, without taking the time to enjoy each day's doings.  I think I always thought of real living as being high. 

I don't mean on drugs - i mean real living was falling in love, or when I got my first job,

or when I was able to help somebody, or watch my baby get born...

In between the highs I was impatient - you know how it is - life seemed so Daily.  Now I love the dailiness.  I enjoy washing dishes.  I enjoy cooking, I see my father's roses out the kitchen window, I like picking beans.  I notice everything - bird songs, the clouds, the sound of wind, the glory of sunshine after two weeks of rain.  These things I took for granted before."

 

Katrina:

It seemed Olivia Ann was speaking directly to me.  I copied the lines down and then taped them above my desk when I got home... For many weeks I found myself blinking back tears every time I read them, for my own life with an infant was about nothing if not "dailiness", but mine was just beginning, while hers had ended.  The fact that she was gone was a powerful reminder to me to pay attention while I had the chance, and to respect the fact that our time here is short."

 

 I am trying to do that more.  Stop.  Slow down.  Enjoy just being with my children.

Try to not rush through morning chores. 

Rush through school. 

 Rush through lunch. 

Rush through... just to get to what I want to do. 

 

This is a courageous, eternal work we are doing. It's not one with quick results. But we are forming lives. Personalities. Character. We are raising the next generation. It is no small task, and gonna take women who are willing to lay aside our own agendas and be present in the moment.  With all these little people that need us right now. 

 

Our lives are nothing, if not daily.  Our character is formed in the daily.  God is found in the daily.  Memories  - they are made in the daily.  Let us not miss the dailiness, in wishing for the highs.