Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Slowing Down

I've noticed lately that whenever someone asks me how I've been or what I've been up to, I always say that I've been busy. But when I step back and look at things, I'm not real sure what I've been so busy doing. I mean, I know that we all have our responsibilities, but compared to some people, I don't have much going on. So why am I always so "busy"?! I heard recently about a man in our town that passed away while playing golf. He was married with 4 kids, and HE WAS 30 YEARS OLD! I just can't wrap my brain around it. It has caused me to take a look at my life and what is truly important, because tomorrow isn't promised to us. I know that I have things to do around the house when I'm at home, but is there anything so important or so pressing that I can't stop and sit on the deck with my husband for a while when he asks me to? Not really. So I'm trying to teach myself to stop taking things for granted, and enjoy EVERY day. I also want to take steps to better every relationship in my life. I am so blessed with a wonderful group of family and friends, but is there more that I could be doing in those relationships? Probably so. Several months ago, I blogged about The Love Dare, a 40 day devotional that my husband and I were starting. We did really well with it for a while, but then we let life get in the way, and we never finished it. I've been thinking for several weeks that we should start back up, but we never find the time. I just finished my daily devotional book that I've been doing, so I've decided to start The Love Dare on my own. In the movie Fireproof, the husband does the book on his own, without even telling his wife that he's doing it. That is kind of the approach that I want to take on it. I haven't told my husband that I am starting it, because I feel like it will be more effective if he isn't expecting it. If he notices that I'm doing it, thats fine, but I'm not going to volunteer that information. Don't get me wrong, I don't feel like we have any major problems in our marriage, but I think we could all stand to be a little better, or try a little harder. So that is what I plan to do. My "dare" for today is to not say anything negative to my husband. So far, so good! :) I'm not going to post about this every day, but I will up date once a week or so on how its going. And if you haven't checked out "The Love Dare", you definitely should.