Friday, December 12, 2008

Running

Today Jennifer had to get up early to go to a meeting in Madison, so I had to get the two girls up and going before their sitter came to play with them. Luckily, Sierra was in a good mood when she got up, so getting her going was easy. She got dressed, ate breakfast, brushed up, and was anxiously awaiting the sitter to show her how she learned to whistle. Scarlett, on the other hand, was one tired baby.

When she woke up, I was already running. I had to get her dressed, change her diaper (two times, since she thought it would be fun to wet the new diaper as soon as I put it on her), and get her bottle ready - which she was not anxious to have. The whole time I was also running around making sure I had everything ready to take to the office.

But then, right before I was about to leave, Sierra came running up and gave me a hug and a kiss. This is something she does every time I leave or return from somewhere, but today, it had a different meaning. With all the running I was doing, I was reminded in that short little moment that the other "stuff" would wait. Having a moment to hug my girls, share a time of love and affection, was much more important than trying to remember everything that had to be packed and taken in to the office.

We all seem to be running a lot more in the month of December, and we need these gentle reminders about what is important and what can wait, or even be forgotten. The true value of life is in the relationships that we have, the other "stuff" is all secondary.

So may we all take a moment off from running. May we be blessed with the time of hugs, love, and affection. And may we celebrate the relationships we have in our lives each and every day.

1 comment:

Betty Dygart said...

All of us can relate to the "running thing" during December. We are weird animals, we humans. What we put ourselves through during the month of December! It's almost as if we have been 'saving up' all our good deeds to be divvied out at the "festive season."

Wouldn't it be great if we could just spread it all out, and WALK a little the whole year through, rather than RUN for one month of the year? The whole thing is fueled by the capitalistic nature of our society, and, like lemmings, we humans just follow along, and go over the cliff every December. ENOUGH!

I am going to make a note on my new 2009 calendar, to do a good deed every month of the upcoming year. It could be a visit to a local nursing home, or a donation to Caritas, or maybe a visit to a shut-in from Our Savior's.

Let's celebrate giving the whole year through...