I love when you read something and it’s like, “This is exactly what I needed to hear at this very moment.”

I had one of those moments today and it was like a shimmer of sunlight parting clouds.

While reading through some blog posts about homeschooling with youngsters, I stumbled across this blog post over at Delighting in His Richness. Just looking for some tips about teaching with a toddler running around, I was blown away when I was given something much more meaningful. Here’s what the author explained:

“Don’t wish away the season you are in.” Marilyn Boyer said this recently at a one-day conference I attended and I have clung to that. Each stage brings challenges and demands our energy on many different fronts. Yet, each brings experiences we will never see again. That little boy will never be four again. That little girl will tire of helping wash dishes. That young one won’t need your help reading too much longer. I need to intentionally grab hold of the moment I find myself in and find joy in that child, challenges and all.

“Wow!” and “Yes!” and “Thank you!” all at the same time! This was just what I needed to hear at this point in my life, this season of parenting, this year, this month, this week, this very second.

All too often, I find myself “wishing away the season.” When he doesn’t need so much attention or When she can read or When everyone is sleeping through the night, every night. It’s easy to be always looking to the future, imagining that life is different somewhere along the timeline.

But in my heart, I know that before I can say, “Monkey, please get down from there!” my babies will be all grown up, leading lives of their own, and I will ache for these days when they were mine to snuggle and kiss and read to–when I was their Mommy and they looked to me for comfort and love.

Each season has its joys and its difficulties, its rainbows and its darkening skies. I need to treasure all that is beautiful about this season and this time. And many of the “difficulties” are merely hints at wonderful things. Although, at times, Pearl’s never-ending “whys” can leave me short on patience, I ought to marvel at how curious she is, at how her miraculous mind is absorbing this world. And when the day seems longer because Monkey is climbing all over the place and trying to get in to every little thing, I ought to smile at his amazing energy and his excitement about the details that make life so interesting.

In short, I need to treasure and honor this season and all that it brings for I can never have it back again. As the original blogger wrote, I need to “intentionally grab hold of the moment” and savor the gift that I have been given. This life is too short to do anything less.

Reasons to savor this season.

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