A Note from Me to You

When I first started blogging, I researched my heart out to make sure I was doing this whole blog thing “correctly.”

Almost every article I read talked about making sure you use keywords in each post, which gives your site a chance at being discovered by a stranger on the internet who’s searching for the same thing you’ve written about.

The theory makes sense to me, so I’ve been sure to design some of my posts like that – Putting them together strategically and with keywords.

The only downfall to this plan is that it can zap the creativity right out of writing. It’s just not as fun when you’re writing for keywords and research as opposed to writing straight from the heart.

So, in an effort to not lose the creative side of writing, some of my blog posts end up look more like journal entries. When it’s just me, sitting in front of my laptop in the dark early mornings before sunrise, typing away about the things God’s been teaching me this week while everyone else in the house still (mostly) sleeps.

This week is going to be one of those journal-y, straight-from-the-heart kind of posts. (You’ve been warned. 😉)

First, let me give you a glimpse at what my mornings looked like this past week:

On Tuesday morning, our oldest was up and in my room right after my alarm went off because of a bad dream. I got her back to bed, but she also knew that I was up and tip-toeing around in the kitchen, so she kept trying to make up reasons to be out of bed. “I have to go to the bathroom.” “I need a drink.” “I can’t sleep.” (You know the excuses.) I finally threw in the towel on writing and cuddled up in her bed with her instead. She was out in a matter of minutes.

Then on Wednesday morning, the littlest Larson woke up while I was attempting to write. So I spent a few minutes rocking him and getting him back to sleep, but then ran out of time to return to my morning routine.

Now, while my kiddos have a tendency to be early risers, they’re not normally up THAT early. These stories of my kids waking up early on Tuesday and Wednesday morning, I’m talking about being up at 4:15 or 4:45 am. WHAT. IN. THE. WORLD.

Full disclosure: In these moments of early morning interruption, I was FRUSTRATED. I was irritated and crabby and wondered why in the world I even get up as early as I do. What was the point if my kids were just going to be up, too? Can’t this mama get, like, 5 freaking minutes of silence?? (I can be a bit dramatic sometimes.)

Luckily, once the day moved on and I got over my frustration, I could look back on the week with clearer eyes and see that God was trying to teach me something: Sometimes life isn’t about the big, and the wow, and the grand factor. Sometimes life is about the small and quiet moments. Moments like rocking your 2 year old back to sleep at 4:45 am and cuddling next to your 7 year old who had a bad dream. These are the moments that actually matter! Not the next blog post, not the next big thing.

I can get so caught up in the lists and the obligations and the schedule and the plan, that I often forget that raising these 3 kiddos might be the most important work I ever do. It might be the biggest legacy I leave behind! What’s that saying? If you want to change the world, go home and love your family? YES. I need more of THAT please.

So, consequently, this has had me thinking: How much of life are we missing out on by rushing past the small and the simple? How many cuddles and slow conversations and moments of nurturing our littles do we blow past because we’re distracted or focusing on the wrong things?

WOOF. For me, I think I’m missing out on more than my heart can handle right now.

I don’t know why it’s such a struggle for me to slow down and just roll with the punches sometimes. But I do know that God has a way of getting my attention. He knows when I’m getting too focused on doing instead of being and he’ll throw me a curveball every dang time.

Luckily, I saw it this week. I threw in the towel on what I was scheduled to do, and trusted that there was a better plan that I couldn’t see. Even though I was frustrated. Even though I got interrupted. I had to get over it and look for the good.

Life is too short to just muddle our way through. I want to live a full and rich life. Sometimes that shows up in big ways, but mostly I think it comes in the small, quiet moments, that no one else sees.

XOXO,

Kris