What Really Matters in Life

There are days when my children serve as good reminders of what really matters in life. Yes, all three are grown and married and have lives of their own, but they talk to me and tell me what made a difference in their lives growing up. When they talk about the things that made their childhood special or the things we taught them that has helped them gain a proper perspective on life, its never about something we purchased for them, or about the "things" they had, its always about the time we did something together, or the homeschooling, or the trips to the park, or all the goats they had, or the times they stayed up all night waiting for kids to be born. They talk about food a lot. They complained plenty in their teens about the health food, and how they were sure they were deprived as small children by having us call raisins, "candy" and things like amaranth crackers, "yummy cookies". Now they thank us for the health food, and the girls both eat that way and feed their husbands healthy food.

If I think back to my own childhood, its not the "things" I remember with a soft heart, well, maybe my baby dolls, I loved my dolls, but it was the way my mother let me lay on the back of the sofa and fall onto her with lots of laughter. I would lay on her side and we called that game, playing "Pamela Possum" No money involved, just time and love. I remember long car rides with my family, seeing so many new things and beautiful sunsets along the coast. Old ships rotting on the beach, remnants of a long ago age of sailing. The very things that a child's imagination goes wild with. I remember sitting at my grandmothers side listening to stories of the olden days, things that awakened in me a love of the simple old fashioned ways of doing things. My own children hold dear their knowledge of spinning wool, milking goats, making soap and candles. Just this month, Melissa talked with her micro-biology professor about soap making. Time and knowledge shared with loved ones are the things that really matter in life.

Other things, IPODS, X boxes, fancy toys, designer clothes, lots of sports etc are not the things that can remain with a person no matter what the financial state of the family is. Its the simple things, walking along a trail, reading stories from the library, picking out shapes in the clouds while laying in the grass, those are things that can never be taken from you.

Hold onto the things that are life changing in good ways.

Pray with your children too.