31 Days of Hindsight: Day 19

31 Days of Hindsight: Day 19

Continuing the look back has been a great joy! I have revisited so many memories logged in my journals that I may have otherwise forgotten.  I hope you are looking back alongside me at your 2016. May we continue to sift out the gold gleaned, treasure it in our hearts and let it prepare us to go into 2017 wiser, more joyful and hopeful and full of peace!

Yesterday got away from me on the writing front but it did not escape me on the “gift of presence” front.  I enjoyed a day of running around with my kiddos.  The older they get the more rare it is to have them all in the car with me.  At 20, 17 and 16 they are usually driving themselves in 3 different directions.

I write that with a little sadness in my voice but really with more joy, because I know that that is the natural progression of life.  They are not intended to be on my couch at 30, right:)

I am not an early Christmas decorator, so I finished up yesterday just in the nick of time to enjoy a few more lights, greenery and pine smells in my home before the BIG DAY has come and gone.  As I walked around my house with my phone playing Christmas music in my pocket, hanging one last ornament, filling one more candy dish and placing one more poinsettia, my kids each exited, in their own cars, to do their thing,  just before dad walked in the door from work.  At first I thought, “Oh no, Jay is going to be so sad that the kids are not here.” Yes, he loves having them all here but when he walked in the door and saw me, in pjs with my traveling pocket Christmas concert, wrapping presents on our bed, his smile added to the lights hung by the stockings.

He looked forward to them coming home for a late dinner together but he was elated to join me in comfy clothes, help marinate steaks for later and sit down to talk and play “words with friends”(with eachother) until the big kids came home!  He still really likes me and I do not take that for granted!

For anyone with older kids approaching the empty nest stage, you will understand. Sometimes you get a little sad thinking about what in the world will we do when our kids are gone, when the house stays clean, the fridge doesn’t have to be stocked and the laundry is almost nothing. But on days like today, I get the gift of knowing it is going to be more than OK.  JAY AND I came before JAY AND I PLUS 3, (put in your own names and numbers) and we will begin a new adventure together when the last suitcase is closed and it goes back to just JAY AND I.

However, on a deeper level, I believe God is whispering to me, and to you:

“Your identity is not in the people or circumstances around you. Your identity is in the ONE who found, saved, delivered and restored you. Your fulfillment is found in ME alone. Any other relationship you have is a gift from ME and just icing on The Cake, a Cake that is perfectly superb all by itself, but because I never intended for you to take this journey by yourself,  I give you others as icing.

Savor the Cake; don’t idolize the icing!” 

Yesterday was one of those days that I did not miss my moments. I wish I could say that that was always the case. What prompted this post was another one of  the hindsight lessons I found tucked in the pages of my 2016 journals.

I had written:

Oh Jesus, I am so sorry. There is not even a date written in here to document our yesterday.  I know what that means. It means I didn’t take the time to give you my first yesterday and I am the one who misses out when I miss our morning meeting, in the corner of the couch.

When my calendar is full, the pages in my journal are empty. The more I have written on my calendar, the less I record out conversations.

I pray this hindsight golden nugget inspires us to fill our time and hearts making memories with God and others,  instead of filling our calendars and checkbooks with empty promises of fulfillment!

May I leave you with this. If this does not open our eyes to what is really important, then I am not sure what will:)

10-Year-Old Blind Autistic Boy Sings “Open the Eyes of my Heart”-YouTube

Peace out and see you later today (because today is actually Day 20:)