Monday, August 24, 2009

a little perspective

Funny how life has a way of sneaking up on you and lets you know that it is fleeting, fragile, and easily lost. A month ago a great young man, who is our home teacher, Brenden's young mens leader, and a friend to all, blessed his new baby in church. Two weeks later he was killed in a plane crash, leaving a young wife and 3 small children behind.

This has brought about some perspective for me (and I thought I had a lot BEFORE this). TIME is the number one thing you cannot buy. It is what family wants most. It is the hardest thing to give. There are always things that come up... school, work, kids, schedules, cleaning, garden. Taking time out of "getting stuff done" FEELS so unproductive.

So now... PRODUCTIVE, at our house, has been redefined.

Productive is laying on the bed for an hour after getting home from teaching, just reading books and telling stories with Aspen, and she with me (and the laundry is still in the washing machine from Friday morning).

Productive is driving to Bountiful on a Saturday to help Hayden put in a floor, because I know it means something to him to have us there, and I know it helps him get home sooner (and the floors at home are still unvacuumed and mopped).
Productive is driving to Roosevelt on a whim because... hey, could I live with myself for the rest of my life if something happened to one of my family, and I hadn't made an effort to get out there and see them? The answer: NO (and my school work is being done today at school instead of last night at home).

Life is a trade off. I just get to decide which things are worth the trade. The 4 hours in the car yesterday, however inconvenient, was DEFINITELY worth it.

1 comment:

Heather C. said...

Oh, my goodness. Thank you for the reminder. I cringe when I think of how many opportunities to play Candyland or just read books I missed so I could get *one more* chore around the house finished.
What a sad story about the man dying. Ugh.
Thanks again, for reminding me what is really important.

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