Little Things Count
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Family on Friday, December 05, 2008 6:30 PM
At the beginning of this week my husband left for work and as we watched him drive away, Camilla commented, “Daddy going to work. See Daddy tomorrow?”
In the week leading up to Thanksgiving, Bryan was working so much that Camilla and I hardly saw him. Only once in six consecutive days was he there to put her to bed at night, a job he usually does daily.
So when she watched him leave for work on Monday morning, Camilla assumed it would be a while before she saw him. When I told her that Daddy would be back that same evening, her face lit up as if I’d told her that we were going to celebrate her birthday all over again.
One of the beautiful things about two-year-olds is how easy they are to please.
However, I’ve noticed as I’ve gotten older that I am also easier to please.
I wasn’t a particularly jaded teenager, but a decade ago it took a big event to get me excited. Summer vacation, or Christmas, or prom at the very least.
Sometime in between then and now I’ve gradually developed an appreciation for life’s smaller joys. I still love special occasions but I’ve realized that it’s the stuff of ordinary time that makes life rich.
My sixteen-year-old self would not believe this, but my twenty-six-year-old self happily anticipates the days when Camilla and I don’t have any outside commitments and can spend the day reading books on the couch in between loads of laundry. I love evenings when we are all home and don’t have anything planned, when we can enjoy a family dinner and then help Camilla build block towers while my husband and I chat about our days.
Day after day I appreciate these things, even more so when the routine has been interrupted like it was recently. I’m grateful that God has given us the gift of such a good life, on special occasions and ordinary ones. I can’t wait until Christmas this year, but I also know that there will be a lot to enjoy in every day between now and then.
The gift of such a good life, and the grace to actually recognize and appreciate what I have in a way I never could have done ten years ago… I couldn’t ask for a better gift than that!
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