Day Three...Listen To Your Heart.

As I type these words from the comfort of my mommy chair (otherwise known as a glider rocker), I am taking in all of the goodness that God has poured out on me.  At one end of the living room, the fireplace is blazing with orange light as the wood crackles beneath the intense heat.   Little Alli runs back and forth from one thing to the next, hardly satisfied to sit quietly, as Katie (all decked out in her cozy pjs) sits on the couch enjoying a bowl of ice cream.  Ryan has decided that ice cream sounds good to him, so he joins Kate on the couch, while Evan has the loveseat to himself as he multitasks his ice cream and his DS.  The love of my life has decided to stretch out on the floor.  Sometimes that is the only place his 6'8" frame can genuinely get comfortable. 

My head tells me to get up and do something.  To try to strike one more task off of a mom's unending list.  Not to waste time lingering.  Morning is coming.  There are uniforms to be ironed.  There are lunches to be packed.  There is laundry to fold.
But my heart tells me otherwise.  It says that I am about 385 days shy of having a teenager in my house, and even less than that from sending my baby to kindergarten. 

This moment matters.

My heart says to listen carefully to the sounds about me and record them in my memory, for certainly I will never again hear them in the same way.  It urges me to gaze upon every scene as if I will never see it again, because the images will never appear just as they do tonight..

And as the children are tucked into bed, and the blazing flames turn to nothing more than an amber glow, my heart is at peace because I listened.

A thankful heart is one that sees great value in what it already has and does its best never to take those things for granted.


Action step: Take a look at what is going on around you this moment and pick out something that you always want to remember. Focus on it. Memorize it. Cherish it. And, if you wish, share it.