Monday thoughts:
I thoroughly enjoy Christmas. Years ago Charlie Brown became discontented with all the commercialism of the season. I understand. The last place I want to be today is out Black Friday shopping. It makes my heart sad that stores are now starting their sales on Thanksgiving evenings enticing people away from time with family and friends.
For the past few years, as I have learned to become content with my surroundings, my relationships, and with life in general I have found more enJOYment and peace in the season than ever before. I now purpose each December to create special times with my girls, to shop early in the month and early in the day to avoid the craziness, and, when giving a gift, try to learn something more about the recipient so that not only is our money well spent but that the care and love in its selection shines through. Interestingly, as I sit here now, I realize that my day to day existence mirrors my “December plan”. Contentment, joy, and peace are the goals. Each are a choice and each must be sought after to be gained.
Tuesday thoughts:
After birthing our second child I began to notice a strange phenomena. Many of my peers were having their second kids and immediately moving into bigger homes in seemingly nicer neighborhoods. So, of course with the “I want it all, I want it now” mantra of our day ringing in my ears I began to ask, “Where’s mine?”. And then I grew discontented. Why… weren’t they right? Didn’t another child warrant another bedroom? Heaven forbid two kids share the same bedroom. I battled with these feelings of entitlement for much longer than I’d care to admit. Then, another strange phenomena occurred…I got the home of my dreams. Funny, my address never changed. Change did come though…in me.
As we began to sponsor kids in poorer countries who lived with their families in spaces the size of my living room and no running water, I realized just how much we had been given. Then the housing market in the U.S. skyrocketed and I began to hear those same peers complain of difficult to pay bills and more month than money. As we journeyed to become financially free, I realized what a privilege it had been to first of all attain this house and then choose to keep it.
Contentment. A fairly big word with huge benefits once embraced.
Wednesday thoughts:
I choose joy. I never realized it was a choice until I attended the funeral of one who had succumbed to her battle against cancer. Those words had been her song that kept her fixed and focused as cancer stole away the life she once knew. I cannot imagine the adversity she faced. We all have our challenges and thankfully most are not a terminal illness. Whatever has come my way to steal my joy in the years since her passing, I have reminded myself that I have a choice. I don’t always make the right one. It is all too easy to fall prey to a somber mood, an irritating challenge, or something that just flat out makes one angry. But there is comfort in knowing that I have a choice, an alternative. I may not always have an easy route of changing my circumstances but the ability to choose joy in my attitude toward what comes my way never wanes.
Thursday thoughts:
Contentment + Joy = Peace. I don’t know if that is a precise equation but more times than not when I choose to find contentment and then determine to seek joy in my situations, it is peace that follows. Peace is underrated. Part of my desire to minimalize my surroundings in the year ahead is in pursuit of more contentment in my home, truly enjoying the things that fill it, and seeking joy in the moments with others. Time spent relaxed instead of rushing, being quieted instead of overwrought, living a full life not a busy one…that is my heart’s desire. Time on the porch, laughter over a movie, conversations and coffee,creating in the kitchen, filling the time with games and experiences…now that sounds like a peace-filled existence. It won’t come by default. It will only come with intentionality.
Friday thoughts:
I had a great conversation with a friend recently about being productive in my tasks and setting my goals for the year ahead. She is a task-oriented girl like myself. We both agreed that while there are things to be done, we both are ones who must determine daily to choose not to miss the moments. As moms of high-schoolers there is a feeling of fleeting time. It is a tough balance between trying to accomplish what is needed and yet not rush through life missing what matters most.
As we close an extraordinary time away as a family, I want to linger in the state I am when on vacation – playing games, taking walks, having little adventures each day. Choices…that is what it all boils down to – choosing how to spend the minutes we are given. Many must be given up to keep a home and life in order, others must be relished in laughter shared, conversations that linger, and time of just quiet and solitude. How ever our minutes are dispersed, we can choose contentment, joy, and peace within them. And that, that is what can make all our minutes well spent.
