Distracted.....

I really needed this blog post (from Storing Up Treasures) today. I decided to share it on our blog so I will remember to re-read it often. Maybe it will bless and challenge you as well.

I will be the first to admit that I am easily distracted. In today's world it is almost impossible not to be. We have technology at our fingertips. I see people glued to their phones. Sometimes they can't even walk straight because they are too busy texting.

When it comes to our children, it is so easy to get wrapped up in life and miss out on the moments we have with them. There are bills to pay and phone calls to make. Blog posts to write and e-mails to return. I need to organize the garage and get in my work out. I have a book I want to finish and a magazine I haven't had the chance to look at.

And it goes on and on and on.....

I am distracted by life. I confess it. My biggest distraction being the computer. It is so easy to open it and tell myself I am just going to spend a few minutes checking e-mail to only end up sucked in for much longer than I intended. Or I think of something I want to blog about, and before I know it I am sucked into my writing.

Meanwhile my kids are running down the street. Naked.

All joking aside, it is so easy to be distracted in today's world. It is so easy to let time pass us by while we type away. And I am just as guilty of this as anyone.

The thing is, we only get such a brief time with our children. You may be feeling like right now it is endless. But, I can tell you from experience that the time goes by so very fast. My baby is turning 15 soon. I can hardly type those words without tears coming. I would give just about anything to have her small again. To hold her in my arms one more time.

We can never go back.

We can never get back their childhood. And so I have to ask myself often if what I am doing in this moment could be better served sitting on the floor playing with my kids. If this was the last chance I had with them, would I want to be glued to my computer or holding them close.

We are not promised a tomorrow.

Life is fragile. Children aren't children forever. And none of us know when our time or their time will be up. We won't be sorry that our house took a back seat to them. Or that we didn't spend more time on the phone. We won't be sad that we didn't scrap the computer time to snuggle a little one instead.

There are many things we have to do in a day. And there are the things that we do that really don't matter. The things that are time wasters and energy suckers. They are distractions. The hour of TV could have been better spent playing a game. The 20 minutes online could have been better spent holding your little one. The hour it took you to clean the house spotless could have been used to talk with your teen.

Don't waste these moments. Don't let distractions suck you away from what truly matters in this life. Those things will always be there. The TV, the computer, the bills, the housework, they are always there. But our children will be gone before we know it.

I remember when my first couple of babies were newborns. I couldn't wait for them to sleep through the night. Or to start smiling at me. Then I couldn't wait for them to crawl and then walk. I spent all of my time waiting for the next stage that I hardly could sit back and enjoy them in the moment. What would I give to have them small again? To hold them close again?

The more babies I have had, the more I learned to savor that time. By the time I had Lulu I actually looked forward to waking in the night with her. I loved nursing in the wee hours of the night, when it was quiet and it was just her and I. I gladly gave up my sleep because I knew this time would be gone in a heart beat. I can honestly say I soaked up every second of her babyhood. And now here she is, nearly five. My heart aches at how quickly the time has gone.

I don't know about you, but I don't want my children to grow up and say My mom was always on the computer. Believe me I am speaking as much to you as I am to myself here. So now I am closing this thing down so I can go color with Lulu. Because I would so much rather be doing that than sitting here. Now shut down yours and go hold your babies a little closer. You won't regret it.

For more great posts by Courtney, be sure to visit her blog....Storing Up Treasures.