A few weeks ago I read a blog post titled, “How to miss a childhood.” It will forever fall into that small category of writings that have wrecked me. And I hope, in time, it makes it onto the list of writings that have literally changed the way my life was going.
Because I realized, my life needed some changing.
I wouldn’t have said I was a distracted parent or wife (or fill in the blank). In fact, it is something I might have even taken pride in. If there was one thing I felt I did well, it was that I try to be present and make new memories.
I would’ve never realized that for so many of those “making new memories” moments, my mind was really somewhere else (some or most of the time).
How could I turn this into a cute Facebook pic?
How can I make this sound witty in 140 words or less on Twitter?
Is this meal Pintrest-able?
Oh, I have to stop and text my girlfriends about this!
You get the point. While I was living in the moment, I was more distracted than I should be. I thought I was treasuring our life. But I was missing parts of it. My mind was else where, maybe not all the time but too much of the time.
My 1,224 Facebook “friends” and 383 Twitter followers were seeing mere snapshots of my life. But in the mean time Chris and Karis were missing their wife and mommy. Probably not even in a way they would notice. But I began noticing.
There is a quote by Jim Elliot, famous missionary, my husband loves to say: “Wherever you are, be all there.”
So today and tomorrow and the next, ask yourself (and I’ll be asking myself):
“Am I all here?”
In my tenth meeting of the day… am I all here?
Standing in front of that cashier… am I all here?
During my child’s fifth time out of the day… am I all here?
At that swim meet… am I all here?
Tucking them into bed… am I all here?
Kissing him goodnight… am I all here?
Because a year from now we will never regret one more bedtime story or not “having a headache.” We will be thankful we weren’t distracted then and chose to be fully present.
Matthew 6:1 says, “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.”
We don’t want to give others the impression of a life we aren’t fully living. We want to fully live it and trust that God will use it as He sees fit. The ones who matter most are watching us all the time, what are we telling them with our attention?
What about you? Do you think you are distracted (maybe a little, maybe a lot)? What is one baby step you could take to be more “all here”?
Thanks so much! B/w this piece, the tech-no piece from this past Friday, and the conviction I was already feeling, I am making a conscious effort to keep my phone away from me as of last week. It’s getting better everyday!
That’s awesome, Brittany
That’s so cool Brittany! So crazy how God works. I was so busy last week I never got to read Bre’anna’s post till a couple of days ago. So neat to see that God clearly wanted us to share this message in a double dose!
Yeah, this hits home for me too. My mind is always churning! A great reminder to truly be all there, no matter what I am doing! Thank you!
So glad it encouraged you Katy!
Great post, Becky! This has been heavy on my heart lately, too.
Thanks girl! SO funny because I just had a chance to go back and read posts from last week. Yes it has been on your heart too! LOVED your post! So neat how the Lord is teaching us the same thing. So not easy. Struggling with the shakes. But loving all this extra time I have now! And loving what I’m noticing about real life!