Tiny Time

The past few weeks have been heavy on my heart. A fellow mom at my church lost her battle with cancer and an acquaintance of mine lost her 11 month old daughter. However, on a positive note, a childhood friend of mine was able to bring home her 1 year old son from the hospital after a successful bone marrow transplant. It's hard to understand why some things in life happen. Life experiences often come without warning and are out of our control. As I've sat and pondered over the last week about these recent events a few things have come to my attention. First, our days are numbered. I've understood this for quite some time, but I seem to get blatant reminders of it now and then in a not so subtle fashion. Second, though many things in life are out of my control there are many things pertaining to my family that I can control. As wives and moms we are so BUSY all the time! Often our time is tied up in important things, but many times we don't prioritize our time to the best of our ability. The days fly by us and in a blink we are in mid-February trying to figure out what happened to Christmas! Or in my case, I've made an appointment to register my oldest for kindergarten and am thinking, "Have five years already gone by so quickly?!" I remember having a conversation with my mother-in-law who is fantastic with young kids. I swear the woman has more energy and fun with my kids than I do sometimes. She has a way of getting down to their level and really enjoying the moments she shares with them. My husband is a walking billboard for her creative way and nature with young kids. His love for reading and "outside the box" thinking on how to raise little ones stems from her. I was talking to her one day about the busyness of motherhood and wondering how she kept up with her three little ones. She looked at me and said something to the extent of, "You know, your kids aren't going to remember how clean your house was, but they will remember the time you got down on their level and played with them." Um...lightbulb moment! It's so true. Not that we shouldn't do our best to keep a tidy house or an organized lifestyle, but how many times have those gotten in the way of you spending some quality time playing with your kids? So many times I've told my kids "not right now" or "maybe later". Many opportunities and moments have passed me by without even realizing it. My job as a mom is to raise responsible sincere loving adults who put others before themselves. How am I supposed to do that when so often I pass by them without taking the time to teach them how to love, share, enjoy life and be selfless? I'm supposed to teach them by example, and yet at times I don't put their needs before my own because I'm "busy" doing something else. My house isn't perfect, my life is chaotic, and I (hopefully) have a lot of life experiences ahead of me, but in the midst of all of it I want to be remembered for my "tiny time". Whether it's the tiny moments I took out of my busy schedule to teach my children or the time I spent loving and laughing with the tiny people running around my house, I can guarantee you that the impact on these sweet little people God has blessed me with won't be tiny. It will matter in a BIG way. Those are the moments and times that they will carry into adulthood and appreciate me for. With that being said, take some time to play cars, barbies, candyland, hide-and-seek or whatever it is that the tiny people in your life enjoy. Don't rush it. Enjoy it. Appreciate them while they're still tiny. And remember, your children are one of the greatest things you'll ever invest in, so make your "tiny time" with them count.