SO... I'm going in and unsubscribing from a lot of e-mail. This woman who LOVES to just have information overload needs to simplify. I haven't been able to visit my favorite scrapbook site (The Mosy Scrapper) in weeks... I feel like I've lost a set of friends because of it... I am pulled in 100 different directions so that sometimes, I just feel like it'd be easier to run away. And that's not good. I'm spread so thin that I can't be the person I want to be for the people I need to be it for... SO... God's speaking to me to wake up and focus on the necessary!
And, then I received this in my inbox today from my mom... it spoke to me..
One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.
On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, 'How was the trip?'
'It was great, Dad.'
'Did you see how poor people live?' the father asked.
'Oh yeah,' said the son.
'So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?' asked the father.
The son answered: 'I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them.'
The boy's father was speechless.
Then his son added, 'Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are.'
Isn't perspective a wonderful thing? Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for everything we have, instead of worrying about what we don't have.
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This struck a nerve because sometime I feel like I'm so worried about missing some important information that I get information overload and then shut down. My kids really WONT care if my house is spotless... they'll care if I spent time with them. My kids won't care if I answered all my e-mail but they will that I went outside to pick dandilions with them... so unfortunately, lots of my "important" (quantity) things have really fallen to the wayside... but the quality of the time I HAVE been able to spend with my kids... it's getting MUCH better. :) And for that I really AM thankful...
AMEN SISTER!!! Its worth it for the floors to be dirty but the kids to be smiling!
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