God decided to add His own Christmas decorations today as He blanketed the grounds in white. It’s amazing how the city comes to a halt much like the feel of a holiday. I must admit that my first plan of action was to ignore the warnings of bad roads and just plow through my to-do list as planned. After all, I’ve got a lot of “important” tasks to get crossed off (32 items on today’s to-do list to be exact) so why should I let a little fluffy stuff interfere? But thanks to the wisdom of my husband who really didn’t want me driving, my day turned more purposeful than my planning could have ever accomplished.
Most mommas find out really fast that a “snow day” entails work of a different kind. Days like today involve several loads of clothes in the dryer in between rounds of frozen fun, lots of extra dishes and mugs from my children and their friends who find their way inside to warm up, more cooking than normal because their appetites seem bigger than the snowmen they build, and a very heightened sense of child energy that requires triple the usual amount of coffee to keep up.
But I feel like I received a special gift wrapped in white today. I was forced to abandon my plans, and I received the gift of a moment. I know it sounds cliché, but so many times our days are so full of things to do that we forget all the individual moments that make up a day. I don’t know about you, but my focus can easily be on what needs to get done instead of what I can do with the moments I’ve been given right now. Today’s moments – not tomorrow’s or the ones next month or next year – open my world up to so many opportunities. When I do my best with the present moment, it puts me in the best place for the next moment. They only come one moment at a time, and I can count on grace to open my eyes to the power each one hold.
So while I didn’t get to the post office, doctor’s office, bank, grocery store, library, or get much done in the home academics world, instead I unwrapped beautiful moments one by one. I was able to watch children eating snow, listen in and occasionally offer thoughts on growing girl conversations with my oldest and her friends, help little boys construct their own ice skating “patch” with water carried from the bathroom sink, and serve up nourishment of both words and bread. On days like today when I wanted to do what I thought mattered most, God graciously opened my eyes to His desires for my moments. And I think that ended up being what truly mattered.
“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. . .”
Matthew 6:34 (The Message)
“We must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind us to the fact that each moment of life is a miracle and mystery.”
H. G. Wells
“Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such.”
Henry Miller
