Nourish {A 31days Post}

October 3, 2015October 2, 2015 by theseordinarygraces In Family, Home, Write 31 Days 7 Comments

When I first had kids, I imagined our lives just so.

We would spend hours cuddled up with a blanket reading stacks of books. Entire crisp fall days would be invested in apple picking, pumpkin carving, and leaf-pile jumping. Winters would be spent playing games and making crafts in front of a crackling fire, hot cocoa at the ready, cheery music filling the air. Summers would be filled with dirt and sprinklers and popsicles, kids playing in the yard, complaining about coming in for dinner.

Our family would be filled with love, comfort, and togetherness.

Real life has a way of interfering with our expectations. Turns out you can’t spend your entire life playing in the dirt. There’s always a chore to do, work to show up for, responsibilities to fulfill. You know, lame stuff.

Sometimes we get lost in all the “have-to’s” and forget about the things that will nourish our relationships, our families, our souls. 

What is a life if it’s not filled with the things that make us come alive? Or things that make us appreciate each other? If we’re always rushing to vacuum the carpets and clean the toilets and check our emails, we miss the most magical parts of life.

Our family unplugged for a whole day last week and that small, simple act worked wonders.

We talked and sang and laughed. We fully appreciated the kids’ gasps of delight and wonder during the lunar eclipse. We breathed in the cooler evening air. We ooo’d and ahhh’d over homemade dinner. We found a rhythm that allowed us to love each other better. 

Life isn’t always the fairy tale I imagined it would be and it’s easy to get swept away in the everyday, necessary tasks that keep life running smoothly. But, sometimes, if we try, we can catch a glimpse of the dreams we used to dream, because, as it turns out, we might already be living them.

We just have to slow down, open our eyes, and breathe in the ordinary graces all around us.

This post is part of the Write 31 Days Challenge. To see the rest of the posts in this challenge, click here.