Then Sings My Soul Saturdays - Cinderella

This week has been an especially busy week. Who am I kidding... this year has been an especially busy year. It seems there is always somewhere to go or something to do. I am always late to be somewhere, or behind on housework, or behind on completing the items on my "Things To Do" list. It's what Stephen Covey calls the "Tyranny of the Urgent." If we let those things that need to be done right now, at this moment - take the place of those things that are most important, then we miss out on some pretty spectacular things in life.

There will always be laundry to do. The house will always need to be cleaned. As long as I keep saying "yes" people will continue to ask me to do things for them. Not that I shouldn't say yes to some things, but I need to keep a balance and keep my priorities in order.

As I reflected on several post I read this week, including two of people who have recently lost their small children, I couldn't help with being overwhelmed at the number of times I say to my children... "Yes, I will play in a minute... just let me finish the laundry first... or the dishes... or check email"... or fill in the blank. As I do these things, time is slipping by and I am missing opportunities that unfortunately will not last a lifetime. Time moves quickly and before I know it, my little girl will no longer be little. She will be in middle school, then high school, then college, then married. If I am lucky she will do these things. Should something tragic happen, she would still be gone quickly and I would have missed out on some pretty fabulous moments because I was too busy doing the urgent instead of the important.

I've had a great time this week playing hopscotch, flying kites, fingerpainting, playing playdough and losing at every board game we own to my 4 and 8 year olds. I've read more books and said more prayers and watched more cartoons and danced more dances in princess tiaras than I have in a long time. And I loved every minute of it, even if my house is a wreck right now.

I hope I can maintain my sense of balance. The next time my kids say "Mom, will you play with me?", I hope I will stop what I am doing and dance and play and enjoy my children before are gone. There won't be many more days that my little girl dresses up like Cinderella and begs to play princess and dance.