{Day 3} – Ordinary Days

 

Have you got a few minutes today? I’d LOVE if you’d take some time to watch this video. It’s a little over 7 minutes long.

The video is about the Gift of the Ordinary Day. In Katrina Kenison’s book by the same title, she talks about the ups and down of raising her boys. She talks about how quickly the time passes.

Watching this video and reading her book were a wake up call for me. My oldest daughter just turned 10. Those 10 years flew by in the blink of an eye. I can’t even fathom the fact that in another 10 years she will be away at college already or possibly even MARRIED, like I was at 20 years old!

 

 

Looking back on 10 years I feel like I wish I had taken the time to recognize those ordinary days for the gift that they were. My girls are already so independent now and I think about the fact that they will never need my help with buckling into the car seat again, or help to get them dressed, or cut up their dinner for them. Those days are long gone, never to return. I wish I had taken more joy in those simple, every day tasks instead of feeling like those things were all little nuisances.

I often think about those days when the girls were small enough that our only agenda for the day might be lunch and a playdate with other little friends. I know at the time I didn’t recognize those days as a gift, but they truly were! My days now are filled with schooling, sports, activities, events, etc. We have very few quiet, simple, ordinary days. Or I guess it’s just that our ‘ordinary’ is a different kind of ordinary from those long ago days.

Today’s challenge is this:

Take notice of the gift of the ordinary days. Don’t rush to make your kids grow up too soon. Enjoy them, cuddle a little longer with them, cherish these every day, ordinary moments. I promise they are fleeting!

And again, if you’d like to check out the hundreds of others participating in the 31 days series, just click here.