20 Minutes to Reflect!

Here is the task:  to write a blog in 20 minutes!  Why?  I don't have more time than that.  Honestly!  This day has been filled up with reorganizing toys; cleaning; home schooling my son; exercising; printing coupons; and trekking through a wet, puddled basement to complete a few loads of laundry.  It has been another busy day at the Hinz house.  Even through the clutter and chaos; through the dampness of the day (inside and out), my heart and my soul are at peace.  This is the forever "thing" that I am wanting to pass on to my children as well.  Life is so much better lived with peace!

We want to rent our home and move.  We want to enlarge the area in which we live.  We have many other short-term as well as long-term goals.  But, each and every day this family's biggest goal is to live in peace.  This peace is best achieved by contentment and joy.  This joy is best arrived at by laughing at life and enjoying the quirks and goodness in one another.  Our children are continually cracking us up!  Just last night, while we were doing our bedtime routine, my sometimes emotional and occasionally cantankerous 3 yr. old said, in response to being corrected, "I don't trust anyone!"  My husband and I just looked at each other completely astonished!  I asked, "Ella, where in the world did you hear such a thing?"  To which she replied while smiling, "In the Jungle Book."  We were relieved!  Then we had another good laugh!  The things our kids pick up and pay attention to!  Well, that's just it, isn't it?  It is amazing what they pay attention to....and they are paying attention! 

Knowing that my kids are paying attention, I want to grasp hold of each and every opportunity that presents itself to impart something good--something of lasting value--into their lives.  When they show interest in something, I really want to take the time to talk further with them.  When they have questions, I need to answer them!  When they are showing me that they desperately need my attention, I need to give them...myself!  They are watching; they are listening; they are paying close attention!  They remember things that I sometimes don't.  Just days ago, my 7 year old was retelling me of the time when my husband gave his coat to a man who was likely homeless, who was spending time around the dumpsters where my husband worked.  It was winter and the man needed a coat.  It seemed a simple, easy enough thing to do.  My son was probably 2 or 3 years old when this took place and I really don't think we've talked about it since then.  But, my son remembered because we did talk with him about it at the time; we told him how important it is to do something even when you are not sure there is much you can do.  Apparently, this had a lasting impact on him!

So, my forever lesson and my forever prayer is that I am living in peace with my family, with my neighbors, and with myself!  My children are paying attention to what I am doing and what I am saying.  They see my reactions to life.  They see the peace exemplified!  And, they see when peace is not what I have chosen.  We are continually living this life in front of our children, even when we are not sure what to do--or we don't feel we have enough time to do what needs to be done.  They are watching!  Young, impressionable lives are watching mine lived in front of them!  Lord, help me to remember to love as You do!  Help me remember to have peace in every circumstance.  Allow me to live with joy and contentment all the days of my life.  And, help me to take every opportunity to teach my children about what matters in this life.  Help my children to see you in the every day circumstances!

My 20 minutes is up!  My daughter is also up...from her nap, begging for a snack.  Laundry needs folded; toys need picked up; Lego pieces need found; a phone call needs to be made; and dinner needs prepared.  Life is busy and sometimes difficult to slow down.  But, in the midst of my busy life....little lives are watching!