On Stopping Time

It can be done. I'm learning to practice stopping time.

Is there a mama out there that would tell me that her kids aren't really growing up too fast? That the years just whiz right by before our eyes and all too soon "Happy Birthday 5 year old" becomes "I am going to be SIX next week!!"

And we just cannot stop life. Breathing and giggles and fingerprints on the wall. We cannot pause the sunrise for a day to just see it again.

I struggle with it. Every.day. Some days I want more babies so my arms will be full again, because these growing-out-of my arms boys are running off, not clinging tight. And I think of mamas who want to schedule that visit to put their own 20 year old skin back into place so we can just hang on for a bit longer.

It's been said that the years go by so fast while the days are so very long.

I'm beginning to see that in this is the key. The years will continue to fly by. There is no stopping them. But in each day, I have 24 beautiful hours. About 900 minutes each day.

I burn my minutes, mostly. Thinking on what is next, problem solving or grumbling in my mind. Lost minutes. Lost hours...to busyness. To whining. To What If's and Wonderings.

But then there is a time to stop.

Stop.

See the moment.

Look in the little faces and smell the air around me.

To live that very minute that I have.

By now, you've probably figured out that I've had my nose and heart all inside of this book. It's been amazing for me. Turned me inside out in a good way. I read about a page or two a day and then just think on it. Think on how...

Life is not an emergency.

I roll this around on my tongue and brain and say it again and again because somewhere along life I picked up the thought that life is an emergency, and I must not stop to think about why it's not.

And how did I get this way? When did I stop seeing? Smelling? Get lost in the dizzying race of motherhood?

When I slow down my minutes to look, I see that I have all I ever wanted right in front of me. Right in arm's reach. (Look at those sweet little fat fingers) I have this moment. I am living and have a full life. I want for nothing.

I'm practicing stopping time in my own world. I want to live each minute to it's fullest. I want to live the full life, as God intended.

I've started by counting. Numbering the pages of a book and counting the teeny gift around me. Those things that I so quickly pass by in real life. But this, this is full life. Slowly I'm beginning to see. To see beauty. To see lovely.

If you haven't picked this book up, I recommend it. It's tiptoed it's way up the ladder of top sellers, and I'm certain that's because it holds a revolution to the mamas of this speeding slippery century.

Love to you all,

A

PS~ If you want to learn more about Ann and her venture in living a full life, click over the Holy Experience