With Praise and Thanksgiving

That is how I start everyday and how I want to start this blog. Giving God praise and thanks for everyday, for the precious breath of life and for allowing us to start over, getting the internet back again and for so many more things I can't even name. My family has learned a valuable lesson in priorities that I pray we never forget. When we thought we were losing everything, however, we were actually gaining everything. We've moved, started over, still flat broke and probably more content than we have ever been. We've spent the last 5 months settling in and reading and studying God's word. We've learned a lot from our study and I will be blogging those lessons. For right now I just wanted to say hello to everyone who read my blogs in the past and thank you. I hope you will come back and read again and I pray that I can share what I've learned and challenge you to study for yourself. We serve an awesome God and I've had the opportunity to see Him work in my life but I can truly say I've never loved Him as much as I do now or known Him like I do now (and I'm not through by any means). I have a relationship with Him like I've never had and that makes reading His word and studying it easier than it ever was, I can't wait to share it.

Just Five More Minutes

I received this email and it hit home with me so I thought I would share it with everyone. Sometimes life gets so busy our priorities get all screwed up. Work, housework, homework, many things become priorities while the real priorities, our loved ones, take a back seat.

I have a little granddaughter that this story makes me think of. She loves to jump on the bed while you hold her hands or take "giggy back" rides or run circles through the house (she just turned 4). When you tell her that's enough, the first thing she says is "just one more time". Thanks to her pre-school she now can count and her responses have started being "just 2 more times, or just 3 more times". When I think how little time I have with her and how soon she will be grown, what does it hurt for that 5 minutes to let her do something that brings a smile to her face, "just one more time or just two more times".

When you work and there just aren't enough hours in the day do you begrudge your loved ones that extra five minutes? What is five minutes out of a lifetime? Is there someone you would give almost anything to have just five more minutes with? That's where my thoughts go. I never ever again want to regret not stopping for anyone I love for just five more minutes or just one more time. What I want my grandchildren to remember is meemaw stopped what she was doing for us. We were her priority. What I want my husband and kids to remember is, "she, stopped what she was doing for us". "We were her priority".

A gentleman I know wrote a christian song called "In the dash" The song talked about living your life in the dash, the time between the time you were born and the time you die. What do you want to be remembered for in the dash? What do you want to look back on your life and see? A life to celebrate and be remembered or days and days of blurs from working to much, living to hard and not taking time to "stop and smell the roses", not taking time to put the people in your life first and the duties of your life second. Each breath we take is a blessing because we aren't promised the next one. Each person in your life is a blessing because there is no guarantee how long you will have them. You can't always be with those you love but you can let them know you think of them. Take five minutes, give them a call. Take five minutes drop them a note. Take five more minutes to play with your children or grandchildren. Take five more minutes to talk to your spouse.

Take five more minutes to say a prayer before you start your day. Spend an extra five minutes a day with your Heavenly Father. You are always on His mind. You will be richer and your life more blessed.

Five More Minutes

While at the park one day, a woman sat down next to a man on a bench near a playground. "That's my son over there," she said, pointing to a little boy in a red sweater who was gliding down the slide. "He's a fine looking boy" the man said. "That's my daughter on the bike in the white dress."

Then, looking at his watch, he called to his daughter. "What do you say we go, Melissa?" Melissa pleaded, "Just five more minutes, Dad. Please? Just five more minutes."

The man nodded and Melissa continued to ride her bike to her heart's content. Minutes passed and the father stood and called again to his daughter. "Time to go now?" Again Melissa pleaded, "Five more minutes, Dad. Just five more minutes."

The man smiled and said, "OK."

"My, you certainly are a patient father," the woman responded. The man smiled and then said, "Her older brother Tommy was killed by a drunk driver last year while he was riding his bike near here. I never spent much time with Tommy and now I'd give anything for just five more minutes with him. I've vowed not to make the same mistake with Melissa. She thinks she has five more minutes to ride her bike. The truth is, I get Five more minutes to watch her play."

Life is all about making priorities, what are your priorities?