Photo by Ashutosh Khandha
There's a dangerous force lurking inside our homes. I wrestle with it at times--kicking it out the door in triumph.
But at other times it sneaks up on me so slowly that I don't even realize until its claws are deeply entrenched in my mind.
Discontentment.
Why is it so easy to live in the past or future? Why so much more work to enter into the now, when the now is all we really have?
The solution is so obvious it seems almost redundant, so clear it's almost pointless to verbalize.
The solution is to want what you have.
In any aspect of life, from parenting to blog growth, from marriage to book writing--there's always another goal ahead, another dream to strive for.
And that's good and right; it's beautiful to live with dreams.
But often we don't realize that the now we currently live with represents our dreams of yesterday fulfilled.
How many of us hoped for the day we could become mothers? Yet does that hope seem as thrilling when our two-year-old screams for hours in the middle of the night?
I love this quote from Marie Beynon Ray, "Begin doing what you want to do now. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand and melting like a snowflake. Let us use it before it is too late."
Last night I was awakened three times: twice by children with potty accidents and once by a child having a nightmare.
As my groggy eyes slowly opened this morning, my first intentional thought was a phrase Steve and I say often--"it doesn't get any better than this."
Because right now, this moment, is my only guarantee.
So today, in spite of life's hardships, pain, or disappointments--make a decision. Make it for your children and your husband, but most of all, for yourself.
Want what you have.
Jamie is
founder of this little spot called Steady Mom, editor of the blog Simple
Homeschool, mama to three cute kids born on three different
continents, and author of Steady Days: A Journey Toward Intentional,
Professional Motherhood.
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