Taking Stock

I have had a strange few days. All three of the men in my life left Wednesday morning for a bit of bonding and skiing in Colorado. My girl had to spend Winter Break in town, as it is one week before her stage debut in the school's production of Sound of Music. So, while K has spent 6-7 hours a day rehearsing, I have had solo space in which to breathe. Many of my friends are off on adventures with their families. All of my weekly activities were on hiatus. Life has been simple and quiet.

Don't misunderstand, I have missed my males. I cannot wait to see their faces tonight...but something about a Mom vacation at home has been beautifully restorative. I am caught up on Bible Study homework. My kitchen is stocked with groceries. My bills are paid. The laundry room is empty--until the ski clothes arrive in a bit anyway. I was even able to tackle a few closets! It turns out I am an awesome homemaker when they are no people here for me to make the home for.

Perhaps it is because I am working through Jen Hatmaker's, Seven, but the closet work had a great deal of purpose this week. I really thought through how to either USE what we have or find a place to give it where it could be put to use. As I organized clothes, cords, books, socks, gloves and the like I had a little revelation. Somewhere in the midst of ALL THOSE SOCKS I pondered the fact that I feel like we are always short on them and then I pick up another package at WalMart.

The problem isn't that we don't have enough, it's simply that I haven't slowed down long enough to take care of the ones we own by washing them and putting them away! I realized that much of the 'spending' we do and collecting of excess comes when we don't know what we already have.

I was shocked today by the random things we have way too many of--like earbuds, books that haven't been read, and charging cords for gadgets! In each case, our excess is because rather than slowing down to discover what we already had, I bought more. Sometimes it just felt more efficient. >cringe<

And while this thought process started with 'stuff,' I couldn't help but think about how this spills over into other parts of life. Busyness distracts us from the truth of what we possess. When we are constantly running, we can become focused on what we don't have instead of what we do. But, when we pause to count our blessings, inventory the gifts in our lives and consider the wealth of relationships we enjoy-- we find our lives rich indeed!

If I am making lists, I'd rather them be an inventory of my blessings rather than a list of what I lack. I pray this for my home and, most importantly, for my heart.

“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought." Matthew 5:5 MSG