The girls and I were in the car on the 1st of January heading home after meeting our "bests" two and half hours away. The day had been one full of emotions and I was spent, so after getting them settled I turned on the radio. Not so much for the music but just for the noise. I didn't want to have to think and I most certainly did not want to have to sort through the flood of feelings I was experiencing.
My plan worked for about a minute...and then over the airwaves a haunting melody began to play. I turned up the radio to hear "Have you ever thrown a fistful of glitter in the air?" and for some reason the statement struck me. The remaining lyrics faded into the background as I began to think about how much fun the girls would have watching it twinkle and shine as it fell to the ground. I quickly dismissed the thought however, I mean when would I have the time? Things are crazy enough at our house between the husband, the 5yr old, the 2yr old, the dog, the job, the dishes... you get the point. Glitter would be just one more thing to add to an already overflowing planner and it's a pain to clean up!
As I reached down to change the station I felt convicted. Really? I didn't have time to throw a fistful of glitter in the air? I looked in my rear view mirror and just stared at the girls and their beautiful faces. I was missing it! The big things in life were crowding out the SMALL things. And it's the SMALL things that life is all about.
I began to pray and ask for guidance. You see, I am a type AAAAA personality and I like to have everything under control, but at that moment I felt completely helpless. "Show me a way dear Lord," I asked "show me what it will take." And then I remembered a conversation my husband and I were having. "Think about what just 15 minutes a day would do for our relationship," he told me one night. He was right of course and we are still working on that but what about the girls? "They need to play," I felt like the Lord was telling me. "And YOU need to play with them."
Thus begins our journey of adding 30 minutes of unadulterated play to our everyday lives. So grab your glitter and come along the for the ride. The trip is sure to be messy and full of failure but hopefully, when we look back, we will see that the SMALL things are the biggest blessings of all!
Nice idea for a blog, Bethany! The one thing I have always been thankful for with my job has been the flexibility I always have had; when the kids were younger I could plan a whole day off with them just to connect- I've always feared the day they don't have time for me anymore. James has always been the parent that connects with play so easily and naturally, and as much as I love to watch that I have always been a little envious- connecting with them meaningfully can be more challenging for me. Some of the games we play before bedtime a few nights a week are "capture the flag" and "hide and seek". The kids love capture the flag because we turn out all the lights and use flashlights. I've been thinking about returning to blogging myself- who did your layout? I hope you keep at it; it is hard to write and not become so self-censoring because you wonder who's reading. I deleted my last blog for that reason. Why write when you can't write what you really WANT to write, right? :) Very nice!
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