I am so happy to have the beautiful change of pace of summer...
I love hearing the happy sounds of two daughters playing together... the lilting strains of my son's experimentation and fun at the piano...
Somehow along the way, even in the midst of homeschooling--having deliberately chosen a less hectic, frantic, schedule-driven existence with our children and their learning--we became hectic and frantic and schedule-driven.
Our participation in that dear, wonderful homeschool co-op drives some of it.
Don't get me wrong! We love the special, godly teachers... colleagues and mentors and friends... inspiration, prayerful devotion, encouragement, support... special stuff indeed, for which we are deeply grateful...
And yet.
And yet.
I am allowing the Lord to gently convict me that I have become driven. frantic. crazy.
Our schedule has become over-stuffed. As is always the case--if the Enemy of Our Souls gets his way with us--the important has become crowded out by the urgent.
Or, even more insidious, by the mundane.
How much time have I spent with the Lord, in His Word, in His glorious presence? How much meditation? How much focused, deliberate thanksgiving? Intercession?
How much time have I allowed myself to just sit and bask in the glory of ordinary joys? How much downtime do we have to just sit and enjoy each other? To take a walk together? To play a game?
I miss the pleasures of dirty fingernails as I work the garden... pink cheeks from an hour or two at the pool... sore legs from a long bike ride with my family... a moment "shared" with a friend as I read her latest blog post, or we dare to grab lunch together... being caught up on Words with Friends... curling up together for read-aloud... a hearty round of Bananagrams after dinner... quiet, whispered conversations snuggled into each others' sleepiness in the wee morning hours...
Life can be full of such simple, profound joys. But only if...
We are listening to a video series by Andy Stanley on "margin"... finding--no, making--time in our busy schedules, for some excess time. He assures us that it is in the margin that the important things happen. It is when we do not allow our schedules to be so packed, so full, so driven, that we find ourselves with enough energy and time to experience those simple, profound joys.
I want to live there.
Oh, Father, help me to live there!
"Be still and know that I am God" Psalm 46:10.
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