We hear this phrase ALL the time!  “Time Flies.”   Baby Jackson, you know that tiny baby I just had what seems like a few months ago, is going to be one-year-old in just three weeks.  As I am addressing invitations for his first birthday party this morning I can’t help but think of the incredible blessing he is…that all of our children are…but he’s the one I never expected to “get”.  When I kiss his chubby little cheeks, when I hear his sweet little voice, even when he [still] wakes me up in the night I almost can’t believe he’s here…but he’s going to be [sniffle] one! 

People always say that “the older you get the faster time goes”.  I would have to agree.  I don’t remember Emalynn’s first year flying by like this.  Maxwell’s seem to go a little faster but Jackson…it’s just a blur…a happy one…but a blur!  I don’t want to look back at my children when they are grown and gone and say “your childhood was just a blur”.  I want to enjoy every second.  I am SO thankful to be able to spend everyday with them!  What a blessing!  I am also thankful that I listened when that is very clearly what God told me to do!  If I were working I would be missing so much.  They’re only little for a blink!

Why is it that people always seem to spend their lives…the time that flies by…struggling…work, work, work to get, get, get.  I see so many chasing the “American Dream”….the house, the cars, the kids to just “get there”.  Just “one more” or “one better” or “one bigger”.  But when do we “get there”?  Are we ever satisfied?  Do we ever “get there”?  Where is “there”?  I’ve done it and frankly…I’m sick of it.  I’m done chasing. 

So what really matters?  In the book Don’t Waste Your Life John Piper lists a poem.  It reads

Only one life,

‘Twill soon be past;

Only what’s done

for Christ will last.

Those are very sobering words.  “Only what’s done for Christ will last”.  But what does that mean.  What should I invest my time, money, effort, energy in?  Obviously as a wife and mother my family…but what else?   What will last?   A friend sent me one of my favorite verses the other day. 

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21

Ironically right after I closed my computer the phone rang and another friend asked me to lead a bible study…not just attend but lead…also ironically about “simplicity”.  At first I hesitated, but then I remembered that verse.  I thought…what better way to spend my time than diving into God’s Word with other wonderful women.  People will last…God’s Word will last and that treasure that is worth investing in and working for…because it’s priceless….not the late model glossy black loaded Chevrolet Suburban LTZ I wish was sitting my garage right now….not the black Christian Louboutin platform heels I still don’t own (believe it or not)…and certainly not the Yamaha four wheeler my husband found last night on Craigslist! 

There is nothing wrong with Nathan and I having any of those things as long as we acknowledge that everything we have comes from the Lord and He is the one to bless us with what he wants us to have.  But we have to remember…those things don’t last and we shouldn’t be spending our time chasing them.  Something tells me when we are blessed with a vehicle that our family comfortably “fits” in it won’t be the late model glossy black loaded Chevrolet Suburban LTZ…and that’s okay…because I don’t need it!  It doesn’t matter!  Life is too short to chase the things that don’t matter because time flies and I want to enjoy every moment with these blessings…kissing chubby little cheeks, hearing sweet little voices, and even getting up in the night!