Friday, January 6

kairos

a few friends of mine posted an excellent blog post on facebook the last few days and i finally read it this morning. if you are a mom, or if you have been a mom, or if you like to read good things, you need to read this.


i couldn't have said it better.


because let's all be honest. anyone who tells moms with young kids to love and cherish every minute either has never had young kids or has completely forgotten reality that comes with having young kids. it's nice to have someone else write those thoughts and see that it has been shared on facebook thousands of times, with hundreds of positive and agreeing comments. it makes me feel better about not being a fan of the whole carpe diem with your kids attitude.


but it's also a good reminder that just because i don't love every minute of my days, doesn't mean i can't (or shouldn't) find those moments that i do treasure. kairos time. a time in between, a moment of indeterminate time in which something special happens (thanks wikipedia). it's a good reminder that there are those moments, every day, where my kids amaze me, make me laugh,  make me smile, make me thankful, show me glimpses of how much God must love me, show me the good that is in this world, teach me, humble me. it is a good reminder to look for those kairos moments and hang on to them when all the other moments seem so overwhelming. 


today has been a kairos day. it's been filled with moments that i can treasure. homemade biscuits for breakfast. bubble bath for the kiddos this morning, given my daddy which meant an uninterrupted shower for me. family time. a trip to kroger that produced zero tears or yelling. family pillow fights. gorgeous weather. dancing in the car. playing outside. laughter from my kids as they play together. 


it's also been filled with getting up at 6:15 because my kids are incapable of telling time. hiba throwing tantrums because something wasn't just right. matthias throwing a lego at my face. hiba and matthias bickering about anything and everything. me losing my temper. once or twice. 


but instead of focusing on all those moments - the moments that seem to make up the days that are currently my life - i'll try to remember the kairos moments. i won't kid myself into thinking that it's been a perfect day or wish that i could do this for the rest of my life. because it wasn't and i don't. i am so happy to see my kids grow up and most days i can't wait for this stage of life to be over. 


but. 


instead of just wishing it away and simply making it through, maybe i can carpe those kairos moments. maybe i can try harder to notice them when they are blatantly in front of me and learn to look for them when they aren't. and at the end of the day, i can look back at them and say, yeah. it wasn't so bad after all. and i can probably make it through tomorrow. especially if i try to carpe the kairos and don't get overwhelmed by the diem. 

1 comment:

jenolyn said...

Hey girl! Great post. I often think the same thing when someone says "cherish it now - it will go by so fast". My mom says that a lot but you know what? She was just like me - a harried mom trying to get through the day. I don't remember her "cherishing" much about my childhood. :) But I survived and I agree with you about cherishing the little things...
Miss you guys! Take care! Jen