Not Done Yet

She tugged back on his hand and said, “No, G-dad, I not done yet.” We were in the mall, slowly strolling along and taking in all the Christmas decorations with our 2 ½ year old granddaughter, Senna. Both my husband, Mike (aka G-dad), and I were enjoying watching the wonder in Senna’s eyes and the smiles and expressions of joy on her face even more than looking at the decorations. We had stopped at a window with an animated fox and bear giving each other presents. We were there for several minutes, watching the scene repeat itself many times, when Mike gently pulled Senna’s hand, and said, “Ok, let’s go on”. After Senna informed us that she wasn’t finished watching this yet, we stayed a few more minutes until she had time to soak it all in.

Mike and our terrific son, Dan.

This made me wonder how much I miss by moving on too quickly. This beautiful Christmas season, I have been really savoring the moments, and I hope you have, too. From stopping for an extra few minutes gazing at Christmas decorations to spontaneous parades with Senna singing Jingle Bells, Joy to the World, and other carols in the house, to laughing and goofing off jumping in front of our Christmas tree, it has been a joy-filled season. As Jim Elliott stated: “Wherever you are - be all there.”

There is so much beauty and joy all around us, not just in shop windows, but also in the people surrounding us. As the saying goes, “The eyes are the window to the soul”. So I encourage you to slow down and gaze into not just holiday decorated windows, but also into the windows, that is, the eyes, of the people all around you.
“Joy to the world, the Lord has come!”

        ~ Sarah

G-dad and me.    

Senna helping with cookie baking. ;)

Senna sampling the cookies while her daddy and mommy decorate them.
(our wonderful daughter and son-in-law, Amy and Dave)

Don't Miss the Now

As I was driving to work early in the morning, it was still dark out. I noticed something reflecting on the side of the road up ahead, and it looked like it was flickering. I kept looking at it, trying to figure out if it was an animal or what. Suddenly I realized there was a huge branch on the road right in front of me and I had to swerve to miss it. Thankfully, it was an empty road and there were no cars coming the other way.

How many times do I miss what's right in front of me because I'm looking ahead? I like the way Jim Elliot put it: "Wherever you are - be all there." Most of the time I have many different projects going on, big and small, and I also work full-time. It's easy to be thinking about the next thing I need to take care of instead of enjoying the moment I'm in. It is important to be ready and prepared. Actually, I just did a little write-up on being prepared for the end of life.

You can check it out at:

http://sarahshares.com/EndofLifeCareandDecisions.html

That being said, don't miss what is going on right now!

Two big things ahead for me right now are getting ready to go to Haiti next week for a short-term mission trip and getting ready to go over the first edits on a children's book I'm really excited about (more on that later:). Right now, though, right at this moment, I'm off from work and my amazing husband, Mike, will be home shortly. I'm going to leave tomorrow for tomorrow and get some popcorn and a movie ready so we can enjoy a night in! 

Oh, by the way, the thing I saw reflecting was simply a reflector on a telephone pole with some branches waving back and forth in front of it. 

~ Sarah