My name is Kimberly, I am 24 years old and mother to two
sweet little girls. I'm married to an amazing man and we live in a little town
in Idaho. I enjoy crafting, reading, running and baking! I have an Etsy shop
where I sell handmade cards, and I am currently in the process of starting my
own blog. We have one dog and three chickens. We dream of having our own farm
someday (hence the name of my shop and blog The Farmhouse Dream) with
lots of animals, and our 12 children (No joke, that's how many kids my husband
wants. Pray for me please).
Prioritizing the 'Important' Things
“I have a really good friend who I always call to go
snowmobiling, water-skiing, hunting ... you know the really important things in
life...”
I was sitting in church when I heard these words. The same
church I always go to, just in a different building in a different town. As the
speaker said these words the congregation laughed with him as though to say,
'You're so funny. We all know these aren't the important things in life'.
Hearing these words got me thinking about how we often treat
these things as the important things in our lives. How often does that
television show, that conversation, that text message, or that shopping trip
you had planned two weeks ago become that ALL important thing? When do these
(sometimes meaningless) tasks get more of our time than our families? How often
do we tell our children (and/or spouse) 'hang on, just a minute, we'll do that
tomorrow or next week' while continuing to do what we are doing and never
really focusing on them and what they may need at the time? Our actions never
really change.
We need to re-prioritize our lives and focus on what really
IS important. Not just what is important to us, but our family and our Heavenly
Father as well.
We need to realize
that we need to slow down and enjoy the little things. We need to take time
with our children playing 'kitchen', reading stories and coloring in those never
ending Disney coloring books (Seriously we just colored four pictures of Bambi
... Another one? Oh, all right.) because that is what they NEED us to be doing
instead of the never ending list of laundry, cooking, cleaning, baking, etc.
that we THINK we need to be doing. For our children those little things that
are annoying, or a nuisance to us, are the BIG things to them. Have you ever
heard the quote by Catherine M. Wallace, “Listen earnestly to anything your
children want to tell you, no matter what. If you don't listen eagerly to the
little stuff when they are little, they won't tell you the big stuff when they
are big, because to them all of it has always been big stuff.” I love this
quote! When I hear it I also think of how it applies to what they want to do
and not just what they say. Our children need to have these memories
of us (Mom and Dad) doing what they want to do, playing dress up, reading their
bedtime stories, and making mud pies ... because at the end of the day the mud
from the pies washes away and all we're left with are the memories (and photos
if you remember - not my strong suit).
When I take a look at my own personal life I can see myself
focusing on things that are of little importance to my family and my Heavenly
Father. I will admit that I am human though, and I do get caught up in the
things of the world. But I know that I can change that, it just takes time and
the ability to admit that it is something that I need to work on. The important
things in life aren't how many times we went snowmobiling last winter, or how
many elk we successfully hunted in the span of our lifetime. The important
things are the memories we make with our families, the time we spend with our
Heavenly Father, and making the world a better place for our children to live
in. We need to be the examples they deserve when it comes to what is
important in life.
So what can you do today to re-prioritize what is important
to you?
This is Kimberly's first guest post on Running Granny Green. Give her some love by visiting The Farmhouse Dream on Facebook, her Etsy Shop, and The Farmhouse Dream Blog.
Visit my Guest Blogger page to get to know all my blogging friends.
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