Making the Most of it

This week has been stressful, to say the least. It seems that nothing we've planned on for the past 2 weeks has worked the way we've planned it...not even a little. It was frustrating, and it was stressful, as I said. Anyway, after worrying, getting frustrated, back to worrying, questioning, praying (and the prayers were like this: "God WHY aren't you doing what I ask? I'm believing. What's the problem here? What am I doing wrong?"), I got some news late Wednesday that a lady's husband from our old church passed away. I can't even picture what he looked like. I don't know if I ever had a conversation with him. Most likely I had because his wife was in the choir, and I just loved her. She is one of the sweetest people, and I know that she and her husband really loved each other and had probably been married a long time. Then it hit me again for the millionth time: what is important and what is not. I felt guilty. I said some prayers for that family before I went to bed.

The next morning when I woke up, I had the same feeling of worry that I'd had for the past 2 weeks, but something was different. What did it REALLY matter? Honestly, in the scope of things, it was petty. I just decided that I was going to enjoy the life I have because, you know what? It's pretty awesome. I've got it going on. And for me to act like God was ignoring me was really ignorant, immature and downright selfish and stupid on my part. I can look around and see that. OR I could call the Newsomes up and ask them.

So I kept Sage out of school and decided to take her to the park. I'm not one that thinks you have to have activities planned for your kids each day like summer camp, BUT you need to do those things enough that they remember them. She was THRILLED when I told her what we'd do. I made a decision for that day: no wasting the day on myspace, facebook, or the computer period. No sitting, no worrying, no stopping. And you know what happened? It was one of the best days we've had.

There was NOTHING unpleasant about it. She was so great. I didn't even take my camera for the blog. I just wanted to be with her and enjoy her. The weather was just gorgeous. She even got tired of the playground (which is not my favorite part) and wanted to go walk around the lake. We had a blast. We were just talking. She asked me about the ducks, the fish and the moss. She picked flowers and threw them in the lake. We found a bridge, which was great, because she asks me about bridges all the time. We got on the rocks that go out into the lake. We spent 2 hours there, and when we were getting in the car, she hugged me and said, "Mommy, this was so fun. Thank you." Is that not worth a million bucks? Then I took her to Chick-Fil-A per her request, but I wanted Subway. No problem, drive-thru at Chick-Fil-A to eat that at Subway. Then she said it again, "Mommy, this was a wonderful day. I had so much fun with you." So, I'm going to make a conscious effort to do more of that: to make memories for my family, to enjoy every second with them, and to love them in action, not just words. It made what was really important be that way and the things I had worried about not even a thought.