Choosing the Best

It was one of those days….

….the “to do list” was overwhelming, the papers to shuffle were stacked so high they toppled over on the floor, there were emails & voice mails to answer and I had spent the day “running” – running errands, running to the store (and back – because it never fails in the Lambdin family that some critical item has been forgotten), and running kids to their many activities.

As I sat down after dinner to nurse the little knight (aka Sir Daniel Guy)….my mind raced as I made a plan on how to spend the rest of my evening to get a handle on life and things back in order. After he finished burping and stared up at me with that milk drunk look…I quickly moved to put him into bed looking forward with anticipation to a couple of solid hours to just get things done! As I headed back to the room he began to fuss….a sure sign that he was ready to go to sleep, as he was dry & fed. As a mommy of many I have learned to train my babies to lay down and “fuss” themselves to sleep after just a few minutes. (with the exception of the extremly colicky one!) As I was about to lay him down to do just that and rush off to “work”…that still small voice stopped me with the question…”Why don’t you rock him to sleep tonight?”

My first reaction was…I don’t have time…there is so much to get done…not tonight, maybe tomorrow! Yet despite these thoughts and feelings, I turned and went into the living area, turned the lights down low and sat down to rock the baby. As I rocked “Sir Daniel” I sang softly to him great hymns of the faith, I prayed for him to grow up to be a strong, upright, moral young man with a heart after God, I spoke scriptures to him as I stared into his sleepy eyes that were filled with love & adoration for me, his mother. As he drifted off to sleep…I enjoyed the heaviness of his body resting against me, his peaceful rhythmic breathing and the sleeping smiles that make you wonder what they are dreaming about. 🙂 I sat there in the midst of the current chaos of life and felt perfect peace and my heart swelled with love & joy.

Yes there were still piles & piles of things to do all around me….most definitely many “urgent” things as well as some very important things. And yes…I would begin the week slightly disorganized & haphazard without my two hours of evening work. But I knew this was the BEST thing to be doing with my time. Everything would still be there in the morning (albeit a few “deadlines” would be missed) but this moment would never be here again.

I haven’t always chosen the BEST things to do with my valuable time. As a driven “type A”, lion(choleric) personality, I get easily pulled into the daily “to do” list, the urgent deadlines & even the mundane tasks. While many of these things are good and even important …. if I spend most of my time on them I will miss out on the things in life that are truly the BEST – mainly my family, my friends, my faith and my Father in heaven – if I don’t stop and spend time just “being” and not always “doing”.

So today I will begin to work on the list, the piles and the messages…..but throughout it all I will make a point to look for the BEST things in life so those moments don’t pass me by.

What is the BEST way you can spend your time today?