The list

An article I wrote for CBC.

The List

My friend!  Hello again.  How long has it been since we last walked together?  Sit, and have some tea with me on this cold day.  We’ll only have a few minutes together before my littles will come looking for me, I’m sure.

I don’t know about you, but when summer fades and fall shows its royal colors I feel as though the speed of life goes from a strolling pace to the flying speed of NASCars.  Not to mention the Maine weather of blizzards in October followed by the tease of an almost summer day.  Sometimes it just wears me out.

You know what I’ve started doing?  I’ve started keeping a list.  Not a “To Do” list, or a “Grocery” list, but a “Thank You, God” list.  Let me tell you about it.  I have a notebook dedicated to this list.  As I see the little things, the daily things, I write them down.  I started doing this so that I could see the small simple gifts that God gives me each day.  It helps me to slow and see the now; to see the Creator’s hand at work in this simple life of mine.  Sometimes I get wordy and sometimes I don’t.  Let me give you a few examples:

~ Laid back Saturdays.

~Little boys wanting to craft with me.

~A brunch of sorts; full of tea, egg salad, nuts, granola, sticky boy fingers, super fast race cars, and much chatter.

~Story time.

~Three year old wanting to pull up his pants like a grown up, “all by my own." 

Not only does this list encourage me to slow down and praise my Maker for all that He does, but it also records memories of the daily gifts so I won’t forget Him.

Do you remember the last time we met I talked of Deuteronomy 6:4-9?  It says, “Hear, O Israel!  The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!  You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your might.  These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”  I had summed these verses up with these two words:  Be intentional. 

I’m learning. On some days it seems like I’m learning slowly, but I am learning to be intentional as I raise my boys.  If I were to continue on in that chapter Moses also says, Remember.  Remember that you were slaves.  Remember our God showed us great signs and wonders.  Remember He has freed you.

Just recently I found a way to take what the Lord is teaching me through my list and teach it to the boys.  In fact, they too are making a list.  Theirs looks much different than mine.  Just take a look… 

Yep, it’s in the form of a paper tree that hangs in our kitchen.  We have a bowl full of paper maple leaves always out on the table.  Anytime they find something they want to thank the LORD for they “draw” a picture and I write out the praise for them, then we hang the “thank you leaf” on the tree.  Here’s how each of their lists sound:

~Silas is thankful for:  His harmonica, green blanket, Makenna, Daddy, and scissors

~Isaac is thankful for:  Baby doll, baby’s bottle, crayons, Momma, and that his toes were painted in Sunday school

Well, friend, I think I hear the bathroom water running and at the same time both boys are here by my feet.  I should run to see what kind of mischief they have left behind.  It was good talking to you even if only for a few minutes.  I would love to hear how you too are being intentional as you live life.  My email is psalm117ptg@gmail.com.  Looking forward to hearing your insights, ideas, and lessons learned.