The Precious Present Moment

SLOW DOWN. This is the phrase I keep having to tell myself these days. I tend to be a busy person. I have a VERY hard time sitting still (Just ask my husband who hates that I get up 500 times during a movie), and honestly, I just love the thrill of the go-go-go. I feel like a walking contradiction at times... while on one hand I am very scheduled and "by the book" so to speak, I also find myself fighting against the mundane and routine. I get bored with the same old thing every day but at the same time I feel compelled to be a time natzi and have everything planned out to the detail before I step out of bed in the morning. There are only 24 hours in a day (realistically 6-8 of those hours were "designed" for sleep), and I am being reminded that when I say yes to something, I am saying no to something else and vice-versa. If I say yes to running around without stopping all week, I (without knowing it), may be saying no to really spending quality one on one time with my son. I wonder how much I miss when I am running around. There were probably a lot of missed special moments with my son that I may only get once. I realize my saying "yes" to too much busyness has lost me from really enjoying the little things in life. I think being overly busy has really allowed Satan to steal so much time from me. Somewhere I believed a lie that by being busy, I won't miss out on anything, when in reality, the opposite is the case. One of my New Year resolutions was to be content and really enjoy where I am at NOW, not wishing I was somewhere else. How can I truly do that while living in a constant state of busyness? It is one thing to be excited for the future, but I have found that when I focus too much on tomorrow, I miss out one what God wants me to enjoy today. This week I slowed down and just savored every moment. I focused on trying to make memories and spend quality time with my husband and son. I believe that how we spend our time and money reflects what is truthfully most important to us, so I went back over my schedule and changed it to reflect what was MOST important to me. Now I am not saying that I have to say no to everything that doesn't involve what is "most" important, but it does give me some perspective on how I want to spend my time in this short life. There is such a fine balance. I can honestly say that I feel more fulfilled this week than I have in a long time. I will need to be aware of my constant need to gravitate toward "busyness", but with practice I hope that I will learn to practice the enjoyment of the precious present moment.