"A Time to Keep"

I have bought and read and reread a lovely book for Isabelle and I. It is just one of the many Tasha Tudor books which bring a smile to my face and a longing in my heart for the beautiful and simple things in life.

"A Time to Keep" begins with the verse in Ecclesiastes which tells us that "to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven: ... a time to keep." In the book, Tasha shares the precious memories and holidays found within each month of the year. I find myself longing to recreate the pictures in my own mind, in my own family, in my own meager lifetime.

When I read this with Isabelle nestled up next to me, I ask myself those quiet questions, "What am I doing this very day to provide beauty and meaning in my young children's lives?"

I am challenged by the words and the simple messages conveyed in this precious children's book. I believe more then anything our children likely won't remember many specific memories, but instead will remember the "feeling" of home. It's as if a giant bubble surrounds their childhood memories. Is the bubble going to have with it the aura of conflict, discontentment, busy-ness .... or will it be one of peace, joy, comfort, and warmth? I know what I desire and where I believe God wants me to be in regard to this. The hard part is the fine balancing act of creating the atmosphere of beauty and warmth in a world and culture that is pulling and pushing at us from all different sides.

As with everything on this journey -- I am struck with how much of it needs to be PURPOSEFUL. Each spring as I complete another year of parenting and homeschooling, I become somewhat pensive. Have I sought to purposefully create a home worth remembering? Have I set aside my own agenda (ohhh, this is a hard one!) to enjoy this moment with my children? Have I sat and read that book? Have I been willing to put down the hoe and throw the football instead? It's easy to make a list and check off the items (well, for ME it is easy!), but it's not quite so easy to respond in patience and loving kindness to the seemingly little things which all add up to fill that bubble. The smell of a homemade (and possibly even homegrown!) food, the flicker of a candle, the warmth of the fire, the inspiration of flowers (or weeds) brought in by chubby hands with adoration for "Mama".

I'm once again inspired to make home a place of loveliness -- not in the satisfaction of a perfectly placed sofa or chair -- but in the sights, sounds, smells, and feeling that evoke safety and beauty and comfort and ... HOME. Within it -- there is "a time to keep."