Time to reflect

It is time to reflect.  I feel forced, and rightfully so, to look back over the year…see my failures, my victories…and ultimately the abundant blessings that has befallen me in 2013. 

It is easy to see the unachieved goals - the jeans I still don’t fit into, the undone projects in the house, the clutter that I am aching to be rid of, and all those songs I have not worked on or recorded.  

Or it can be easy to look at the irritants – the potty training woes, the time I almost smoked out our entire house learning how to use the wood burner, the one millionth question in a row from a 3 year old who I think doesn’t even know what he is asking about anymore, the dogs as they just ate in two seconds the food you took 30 minutes to prepare perfectly for a picky eating boy…and the cries that follow, or a loving but very rough big brother who cannot stop himself from tripping, squishing, or just irritating his little sister (and mother) until she (and I) whines and cries.

But I look back and find those moments now funny and reflect on all the laughter in my house.  My squishy faced little Elsa that entertains me with her expressions and goofy dances, my thought provoking Samuel who seems to have a way with wording his sentences to crack me up almost constantly…until he tells me I smell like “boogers”, and my loving and giving husband who does way more than is expected and how he finds a way to make me laugh…a lot…mostly at the ridiculous things we say or do.

I have learned this year and continue to learn more about the blessings of motherhood.  They are wrapped up and intricately woven within the seemingly rough moments.  That is where the real joy of parenting lies.  Sam is going through a stage where finds every excuse possible to delay bed time.  I hear him cry from his room… "my hand hurts"… "my sippy cup is not full"… "I can’t find my blanket" (which he is lying on)… "my ankle hurts"…. "oh now my other ankle hurts".  As I attend to his 5^th cry of the evening (somewhat irritated that it cuts into my me time), I finally sit with him and talk and pray again and sing to him. He wanted his mother’s comfort and sometimes I just fail to see that simplest need- and I am blessed by this almost missed moment.  Forgive me Lord when my selfishness overcomes my noble task of loving on my kids.

I don’t tend to make resolutions but I am always looking to better myself, be more in the Word, more in prayer, focus more on my, and my family’s, health, etc.  But my biggest goal of next year is to LOVE people more…starting in my home and going beyond - To be more giving of myself and blessing others.  We have that perfect example of Love to follow! The pure and simple truth is that "God is LOVE" 1John 4:8

 May your 2014 be fruitful, full of growth, and full of blessings and love!

Here is love, vast as the ocean,
Lovingkindness as the flood,
When the Prince of Life, our Ransom,
Shed for us His precious blood.
Who His love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing His praise?
He can never be forgotten,
Throughout Heav’n’s eternal days.

On the mount of crucifixion,
Fountains opened deep and wide;
Through the floodgates of God’s mercy
Flowed a vast and gracious tide.
Grace and love, like mighty rivers,
Poured incessant from above,
And Heav’n’s peace and perfect justice
Kissed a guilty world in love.

Here is Love

William Rees