Enjoy Your Kids Right Now

A man approached me yesterday at church, grabbed my hand, and with tears in his eyes he said, "I know you probably hear this a lot, and right now it is really hard. But my baby is a senior in high school. So enjoy it as much as you can right now." Then he snapped his fingers and said, "Because it will be gone just like that."

His teary eyes made me teary eyed! And it struck me to my core.

Then later that same day my dad said to me, "Don't worry about how your kids will turn out or how they will be as teenagers. That will come soon enough. Just enjoy them the way that they are RIGHT NOW."

Once again. These words struck me to my core.

I have anxiety.

Which means that I am a worrier.

I worry mostly about the future, and the unknown.

I don't do well with surprises.

Ya I know. It's ridiculous because that's life.

But anything that can not be predicted, planned, and/or avoided- is NOT my friend.

It's a real problem people, I'm tellin' ya!

I ponder WAY too often on the future, and the unknowns that it holds.

I spend WAY too much time and energy worrying about what my kids are going to be like as adolescents and adults.

So those inspired words that were said yesterday were exactly what I needed to hear!

I need to forget about what the future may or may not hold.

I need to let go of that desire that I have to control or know everything.

Whenever I am getting extremely frustrated with my children, and snappy, I need to take a step back and look at the big picture!

If the next 3 years are going to pass by as quickly as these past 3 years, then ya, time really does go by like a snap!

And seeing how much my daughter has grown and changed these last few years really does make me want to embrace every moment that I have with her while she is this little and cute and sweet and willing to spend time with me!

My mom always says "Just wait until they leave you. And they are excited to do it!"

It's a really sad thought!

NOW is the time to embrace EVERY MOMENT with our little ones!