I have been thinking about the idea that we all spend so much time looking to the future. We fantasize about what is ahead, the possibilities. Maybe it is a bigger house, a new job, someday having a child, the list could go on. Why do we spend so much time thinking about the stuff that isn't the here and the now? Is it a way to drowned out our life when it is too much to handle?
Whatever the reason is we are missing out. We are going through life wasting our days. I have learned that if we are always looking ahead we will never get there. We will never get to the point where we find joy in our days. We will not be satisfied.
It is a bad habit to have, never enjoying the now. We often don't realize we are doing it.
Today the littles were down for naps, my 4-year-old daughter was playing in the living room while I sat at the counter catching up on emails, making appointments, and filling up my days.
Mia, has a passion about cooking. Of any kind. It was a quiet day at home and she wanted to bake. I had no idea what was in the pantry but we had a look and found a gluten-free cookie mix, my favorite brand. Mia lit up with excitement about all the hard work we were about to do. :)
The TV was off, piano music playing through out the house. Oh and the peaceful smooth keys that played melted my heart. They helped me take a deep breath and smile as I hopped Mia onto the counter ready for baking. Watching her crack the egg into the bowl I wished I had my camera to remember the moment. She is such a dear to me. I can't wait to see if she ends up being a baker when she grows up. She loves every aspect of cooking. She loves to create!
Mixing our ingredients into the bowl and forming our cookies I thought about how glad I was that we were baking today. I could have put it off another day because of all of our obligations. I could have given her a movie to watch and she would have been content. But this day, we lived and breathed together and talked and I feel much more full of life than I would have if I kept at my work.
I crave life and when it gets to busy and mundane it might not be that I need to dream about what could be but count what blessings I have right here and now. I have enough, I have been given much and I adore my life. God will take care of the tomorrows to come. He didn't create us to plan for the future and spend our days consumed with it. But rather He gave us mornings. Each morning we get to wake up and take on the day that is given. We get to spend it in so many different ways. What a gift that we get to create our living each day. Today I made cookies with Mia. There is so much joy in that. There is joy even in the days I hold my children when they are sick, or sad. I am being shaped even in the hard days when we struggle to be happy and let the weight of our stress get us down.
I think we have this mentality much like the new phrase on Pinterest, "pin now, read later." We have the mindset that we need to gather so much stuff like we are saving it for a rainy day. But we never stop. We never stop and live in the rainy days.
Today I find myself thinking about what life would be like if we slowed down, way down. As we look for a house I am tempted to make my husband happy and buy a house with a lot of land and let the kids play. Let them roam in an innocent environment. Grow our food in a big garden and spend our time soaking in the little things. The family moments. Away from the schedule, the busy life and the looking ahead. Who knows where God wants us but I do know that I don't need to wait until we buy our house I can do this idea right here, right now. Today I can make cookies and play. I can watch my daughter as she holds the warm cookies we just baked and takes her first bite and enjoy our time together. I can choose to be fully in the moment.
God really has given us an abundant of blessings. We often don't see most of them because our eyes are fixed ahead. It is my prayer today to watch out for the joy in today. And only tomorrow will I look for the joy that it will bring.
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