Have you noticed how the summer is flying by? Our friend Carrie Jolly took this photo when we were in DC over Memorial Day weekend. If you're ever in DC, you have to go to the National Zoo -- especially if you have kids. Fortunately, the pandas cooperated while we were there, so we got to see all three.
Here's a picture of the baby.
But the race of summer leaves me wishing for moments to catch my breath. To just bask in the warmth and rest in God's provision. Do you struggle to balance the pace of life with rest?
In their book Pressure Proof Your Marriage, Dennis and Barbara Rainey write about the importance of finding our purpose as families and guarding that with courage. Next week both of my kids will start gymnastics. Abigail is already talking about taking both gymnastics and ballet in the fall. To date, I have carefully guarded our schedules trying to keep her activities to one at a time. Now Eric and I will need to discuss whether we want to add a second activity to our schedule. Is this the right time for our family? Would it be good for Abigail?
How do you make those choices for your family? It will be different for each of us because God calls each of us to different things. But I challenge you to slow down and consider whether there is too much pressure in your life and steps you can take to begin to minimize that pressure.
As for me, I'm looking for a little summer peace!
2 comments:
We have tried to guard our family time and so many things intrude almost daily.
There was a time in the recent past that even our (now previous) home church threatened to destroy what we had worked hard to build. It was unhealthy and it creeped in very, very slowly. So slow that we didn't see it until it was too late. By then, the damage was done and God called us to a different place.
Zane enjoys soccer, so that's what we do in the spring. We just started gymnastics about 3 weeks ago and he seems to be enjoying it more than soccer. We take 8 weeks sessions in gymnastics, so I'm not sure what we're going to do when soccer season hits again. I'm where you are right now.
My first thought is that they are only this age for a season. A very short season. As long as I am aware that two activities CAN hinder our family life, if I take action to change something else to make sure things balance, we should be just fine.
With fervent prayer over the issue, I'm sure God will set the calandar just as it should be. He does that pretty well, y'know? ;)
Hi Cara~
I agree. This year, my husband and son went to DC for a school trip, and my elder daughter and I went to Catalina for hers. Lots of travel, but also lots of going separate ways (our youngest needs a trip too!). Because of all the camps and lessons and sleepovers this summer we hadn't planned a vacation, but last week I said, "Enough!" and booked 5 days at a lake house. I feel like Chevy Chase in Vacation: "We're on a quest!" (i.e., we WILL have fun & downtime here :-)
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