Distractions
And don’t let anyone put you down because you’re young. Teach believers with your life: by word, by demeanor, by love, by faith, by integrity.
1 Timothy 4:12 MSG
I love being at home! It’s usually my first choice over being anywhere else. But sometimes, it makes me downright exasperated. Because home is also where I’m consistently reminded of the incompleteness. Just today, I did not finish: the laundry, the dishes, the sweeping, the dusting, the meal planning, the flowerbeds, the mowing, the lamb pen clean out, the car clean up, the painting…..
I know your list goes on and on, too! It’s necessary, and also tiring and distracting. It’s a distraction from a lot of the good stuff happening right in front of us.
We’ve been fortunate enough to have a few days away in the woods. There is still a little laundry and a few dishes, but there’s also the adventure of hiking, and getting our shoes wet while splashing out in the creek, and singing while covered in the spotlight of a flashlight, and roasted marshmallows, and a different kind of tired at the end of the day.
And it’s been really good to see my kids play, without the distractions to make me look away. When they were babies and toddlers we saw so much of what they did, out of safety if nothing else.
And then as they’ve gotten bigger, it’s been a blessing that they can play out of view for awhile.
I won’t say they’ve been without argument this week. But I have been there to see the spontaneous apologies followed by forgivenesses given. They haven’t shared everything, but I have seen them be generous with each other in kindness and snacks. They haven’t made a perfect team, but they have helped each other in building campfires and catching crawdads.
There’s no keeping the distractions away. And the girls will continue to jump on the trampoline outside as I scramble to start the dishes in the kitchen. But I’ll try to sneak in more peeks at their play, and pay closer attention to their interactions when I’m near. Stephen and I miss so much when we look away.
Where in your life should you be paying closer attention these days?
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