If life is like a river, then I’ve been furiously paddling some rapids for the past several weeks. Yes, I consciously chose the rapids, so I have no one to blame but myself. But Summer 2012 was definitely not a “lazy river” float trip. Whew.
A week or so ago, a friend of mine pinned this on her board, and I repinned it to mine. It keeps running through my head – am I busier than God intended me to be? Part of me loves living at a pace that is non-stop, with every day crammed chock-full of generating good ideas and executing projects to completion.
Case in point:
- Our summer-long SBV is winding down and wrapping up in the next few days.
- Our fourth annual school supply giveaway started out with a goal of helping 300 children and when we closed our doors a few minutes after noon on August 4, we had equipped over 400 children with supplies to head back to school.
- I’ve been working with our church staff one day a week, in addition to my normal work schedule.
In the midst of all that, Swimmer Girl had her last first day of school. She turned 17 without much fanfare or hoopla.
Our beloved pooch – a lazy beast to begin with – became more lethargic day by day this summer. Finally the symptoms worsened and I took her to the vet last week, to find out she had colitis; an inflamed colon typically caused by a) dietary change, b) eating something that made her ill, or c) stress. With her history, we’re gonna go with “c” on that one. Things seem to have righted themselves in her world, thanks to a hefty round of anti-inflammatory meds. She’s perkier and more active than she has been in a while. I wish I had noticed the onset of symptoms earlier but in my hustle and bustle, I chalked it up to her age and the “dog days” of summer. Bad me.
For better or worse, my life’s pace has quickened, at least for now. I am ever mindful of the pitfalls of “busy-ness” and so I’m determined to balance things to make sure I’m running my life and not the other way around. My family will be relieved when I demonstrate that I do remember how to cook and clean better than the “lick and a promise” approach I’ve employed during the past couple months.
The good news is fall seems to be coming early: we’ve slept with windows open the past several nights – unheard of in August in the south. Maybe this is nature’s way of apologizing for jumping the gun on summer back in April. Whether it means an extra-long fall or an extra-long winter, who knows? But at this point I’ll take either one.
Here’s to a life full of good things, including time to be still in the midst of it all.
Happy Thursday,
Terry
P.S. Watch for a recipe-of-the-week to appear next week; some things ARE returning to normal!
