my anchored life:

This post is part of an online community.  A prompt is given every Friday and we are encouraged to just free-write for 5 minutes and post it to our blogs without over-thinking or editing.  If you’d like to participate, you can get more info and link-up on this site. 

Celebrate.

This is something I don’t do enough of. Like most women I know, my days are jam-packed, from the moment I wake up until the moment I lay my head on my pillow again. Homeschooling 4 kids in 4 different grades, taking care of a home, getting everyone to their activities, and keeping up with my husband’s travel schedule leaves me very little wiggle-room to stop and smell the dirty laundry much less the roses.   Most nights I lay in bed certain that I missed something.

It occurred to me lately that I am in desperate need of balance. That by refusing to say “no” & let go of some very good things in my life, I’m missing out on so many better things. By refusing to slow down and pay attention, I’m robbing myself of sharing ordinary moments with my kids. Moments that I should be able to stop and just be with them. Moments that I should be able to play a game, or do a puzzle, build a lego set, or read a Calvin & Hobbes comic strip and laugh until our sides hurt.

I have an insane need to take perfect care of everyone and everything around me. By refusing to stop the mad lengths that this “need” has driven me to, I have also refused to take care of myself.

So, today I’m celebrating the realization of these things. I’m celebrating that I’ve committed myself to doing more celebrating. Celebrating ordinary moments that make extraordinary memories. Celebrating the passions and desires that God put in my heart that make me a better wife, a better mother, and a better woman that can be used by Him to speak words of life, hope, grace, and encouragement to others. I’m celebrating finding a very loud voice with which I can say “No.”