Five Minute Friday :: Willing

I'm joining Lisa-Jo Baker for her Five Minute Friday.  Her rules:

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking. 2. Link back here and invite others to join in. 3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community.

The word today is willing. GO.

Okay. Five minutes, focused writing. (When I free write, I always need to talk to myself!) I've been thinking recently about what I haven't been willing to do to say yes to other things. One thing about being a mother I treasured even before I had my own kids is that time early morning when your kids jump into bed with you and snuggle. Oh! It's the sweetest thing in the world with little ones! To just have time to be with them and to hold them. "They" always say to treasure your babies while they're babies. So I have been.

I am not necessarily a morning person. (Or a night owl, for that matter...) So getting up at five (or six...) in the morning is hard for me. When mothers say that they get out of bed before their kids get up, I always say, but my kids get me out of bed. I have not been willing to give up that sweet time with my children just to have moments to myself. My moments come, or will come.

Something happened recently, though. My kids haven't come in to wake me up before I'm awake so much anymore. Some mornings, I'm even up before all three of them are. At the ages of 10, 8, and 5, snuggling Mom in the morning may not happen much anymore. And that's okay with me. It's just a season of time. I did my part to treasure the babies, and I don't really have them anymore. Now, I need to treasure my young school-aged kids. And that means taking advantage of them not needing to snuggle in the morning, and getting up and using those early(ish) hours for focusing on myself.

And STOP.

Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate you reading, and I appreciate loving comments. While you're here, will you drop by and read my devotional on this week's Torah Portion?