Today I decided that on Saturdays I would post a simple reminder on my blog. No fancy list. No suggestion on Michigan fun. No crazy picture overload. Just something simple for the weekend. So here is the first ever Simple Saturday Sentiment.
I asked my sister to take a few photos for me for my blog and social media pages. She asked what I wanted and I said, “I don’t know…Fall stuff and acorns in tiny baby hands. I am not sure what I will do with it, but I need that.”
We laughed and she sent me this pic a few weeks ago and it wasn’t until this morning that I was inspired.
What consumes our minds, consumes our lives.
I am not sure where I read or heard this before, but it is true.
Children naturally want to gather and collect things in nature. They want to laugh and play and pull our days as parents and teachers toward all of those things.
Why?
Because it feels good inside to laugh. It feels good to play. It feels good to collect nature and be in nature and live the natural way that God made us to be.
At peace.
But the grown-ups, who “know better,” are the ones who teach children that life is not all about play and doing what feels good. Life is hard work and we need to take it seriously.
At some point we successfully drive the nature right out of a child. We feel stressed and disconnected and wonder how we got there.
Then we spend our adult lives trying to make space and time to find our inner child again so we can have joy back.
What if instead we taught our children and ourselves to create space for all that God has for us.
We laughed.
We spent time in nature… cold, windy, hot, rainy, or perfect.
We played.
We turned hard work into play with music, games, and love.
We found joy in acorns.
We embraced life like a child.
I’ve spent this year of joy creating space for it all and it is becoming beautiful.
Maybe you are living in kiddie land right now and can’t find your way to the “work” you are supposed to do. That’s okay. Embrace it all.
Maybe your kiddos are grown and all of you are living the serious life. You miss the days when childhood laughter filled your home. That’s okay. Slow down. You can bring it back.
We all have the same 24 hours. What consumes our minds in those hours is what will control our lives.
Set your mind more on loving and being with our people and less on the noise that we need to go here or buy this thing so we don’t miss out.
Because at the end of the day if we let our souls get quiet, we realize what we really missed out on was baby acorn hands.
Keep making your house a love filled home.
High five for home.
Kendra is a full time elementary teacher and mommy to a sweet and sassy 7 year old. She poured her heart and soul into her classroom and earning her graduate degree before becoming a mom and has spent motherhood trying to find a way to balance career and home and appreciate the journey while doing it. She’s a lake loving, ranch on pizza, pop can recycling, map on her hand Michigan girl! This momma never learned how to play euchre, but you can find her making a pretty long list, reading a book, or planning her next adventure in America’s high five! High five for home!
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