As a mom with young children, this is something I've probably heard everyday since I have been pregnant with my first. Mostly from other moms with teens or grandmas. Often men would say it too. I would smile and nod knowingly when someone would say, "Enjoy it now. You'll blink your eyes and they'll be in college."
But in the midst of the everyday moments that seem so mundane, those sentiments often feel foreign. With small children, I am so immersed in the right now that kids in college (or even having kids weaned from breastfeeding) seems light years away. I know it all happens, when the needs are so high and my hands are so few, I can lose perspective.
What I don't want to do is wish away these times. If what countless people have said with such fond recognition in their eyes is true, then what am I doing to treasure these times? I am hoping this blog is a beginning. A way to keep my eyes focused on the beauty, the sacredness, the 'right now' of our days. There are moments when it does hit me that this is such a quick blip on the screen, and in those times I can see that I (we) are only entrusted with these little lives for a very short time. I want it to be a conscious time. A time when I can see them for much more than their present behavior. They need me to see past the trying toddler times and see who they are now and who they are becoming.
Obviously rest helps. Balance too. Times away so that we can be refreshed when we come back together. But even when those things are hard to come by (and they can be with little ones at home) I'd like to find a way to stand back and see the bigger picture.
I hope to use quotes from people I greatly admire in some or most of my posts as a launching pad to help me see the bigger picture. And to tie the bigger picture of societal peacemaking into the day to day of peacemaking in our family.
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