Scheduled Outage

Funny, I planned on posting something different, but when I clicked over to blogger and saw the message about a scheduled outage due I changed my plans.

Something about those words "scheduled outage" leaped out at me. My first thoughts were "Gee, wouldn't be nice to take a scheduled outage?"

Something about that thought sticks...lingers. Why? I thought for a moment, whilst 5yo complained that her tummy hurt(and thus she can't finish cleaning that messy room.) Something about scheduling an outage seems like fun. We moms deserve a break every now and again. We work, homeschool, do laundry, and clean up all manner of yucky stuff. A nice break from those things would be nice.

But no, that is not it. What is it...What makes those words, "scheduled outage" stick out?

Then the thought becomes clearer. I don't ever have to schedule the shut-downs, the tune-outs or the mindless tasks.

Quite the opposite. I have to schedule my plugged in moments: The moments that I'm aware, sensing and realizing and conscious of the little everydays that may otherwise pass me by.

Like the way 5yo's curl at the top of her forehead is growing, and her skirts have suddenly shrunk or, the way 10yo sees a need and jumps in to help. Tonight it was supper, earlier it was a sink full of dishes. I have to plug in to hear the little songs they sing as they go about their day, the telltale sign of what they are absorbing. Plug in to be present to the games they play.

So many times the days slide by without a thought. One menial mindless task melds into another. But those darling babies, they are ever changing right before my eyes.

And so this is my oft said prayer, "Lord let me be present to your presence, and the gifts that you've given me in my children."