Have You Looked Inside Your Egg Today?

Well, the inevitable happened. Life has been so busy that my attempts to keep up with a weekly blog failed. And since life never seems to slow down, I will not make any promises but will try my best to post something once a week from now on.

So getting back on track, I take you back a month to Easter weekend…

We spend our lives teaching our children. We teach them how to crawl, how to walk, how to use the potty, how to read, how to count, how to use manners, how to dress, how to treat people, what to do and what not to do, what to say and what not to say…this list goes on and on. But have you ever stopped to think about how much children teach us?

Whether you are a mom or dad, grandmother or grandfather, uncle or aunt or a godfather or godmother, chances are, a child in your life has taught you a lesson.

On the Saturday before Easter, at a special egg hunt, my middle son, JW, opened my eyes and taught me a much-needed life lesson.

At the hunt, the announcer yelled, “Go!” and all the little children ran in every direction, trying to scoop up every egg that could possibly fit in his or her basket. As I watched my oldest son run as fast as he could, proud that he had finally mastered the egg hunt, I searched for my son, JW. There he was, standing still among the chaos, looking inside his Easter egg.

“Go, JW!” I told him. “Run and get more Easter eggs!”

But as I told him this, he stared at me and said, “But look, Mama. Look what’s inside my egg!”

He was so fascinated with his one special Easter egg that he would not pick up any others. The only reason he had more than one in his basket was because I had added a few from the ground surrounding him.

I went home after the egg hunt that day and realized that my two year old had just taught me a lesson.

In my world of trying to raise three loving, well-mannered boys, while meeting weekly writing deadlines and planning and teaching weekly classes at church, each one of my days seems like a sprint to the finish line.

So often I find myself rushing from one thing to the next. Sure, I enjoy my family and the beauty of God’s creation, but how often do I stop to enjoy all the little moments on a daily basis? How often do I enjoy what’s inside my single Easter egg?

While it’s only been a month since JW taught me a new life lesson, I have already opened my eyes wider to the truly important things in my life.

What have you seen, you ask?

I have stopped in admiration to watch my older boys belly laugh as they made their baby brother giggle.

I have stopped cleaning dishes to eavesdrop on a conversation that my four year old and two year old were having in the playroom.

I have stopped to watch my boys play in the sand at their uncle and aunt’s beach, getting sandy as could be in their outfits and then drenching each other in a nearby hose and laughing until they fell over. I started to yell and then asked myself, “Does this really matter? We have nowhere to be. How great is this moment?”

I have stopped to watch my baby reach out and softly pet our black lab as they stared out the window together.

I have laughed, truly laughed, while lying on my back in the grass (in the middle of a place in Palm Beach, where I probably should not be lying in the grass) as my three boys, even the baby, tackled me as we all laughed as hard as we could in the warm sunshine.

And I have stopped to watch my husband be the best pirate in the land as he sword fought to the finish with the boys.

Yes, we are all busy. It doesn’t matter if you are a mom or a dad, or if you have a full-time job or part-time job, life is busy. We’re Americans and we are always in a rush.

So can you lighten your load to make life less stressful? Maybe not. That’s easier said than done.

But whatever you do, even if you only have a few minutes in your busy day, slow down enough to enjoy the precious moments that are taking place right under your nose.

So far, I’m enjoying what’s inside my Easter egg this year. Are you?