Just a Thought

I saw this little quote the other day...

...and my thought was, "YES. 100% yes." 

I'm not an overly ambitious person. I sincerely enjoy life (thanks to the Italian in me), and I love to sit and read a book with a cup of tea, and all that sort of thing. 

But I also love making lists. Crossing things off of a list gives me great joy and satisfaction. I have even been known to put things on my list that I've already finished just for the sheer pleasure of crossing it off. And If I'm not doing something worthy of being on a list and therefore crossed off, then I eventually start to get irritable. Which is why I've learned that although close relationships are very important to me, I am in fact more of a task-oriented person.

And there's something else I've noticed. People like to look busy. It has definitely been glorified, though I'm not exactly sure why. What is it about us (particularly women), that makes us feel like we have to out-do each other's to-do lists? Like it's somehow impressive to be so ridiculously busy that we can't take a walk, or even a deep breath.

I've caught myself telling someone about my week and feeling just the slightest bit smug about the fact that it sounded pretty darn hectic. And when Bry comes home and asks me what I did that day, I feel like I need to have something big to report.

It's kind of backwards, actually. I mean, shouldn't we feel fortunate to have the luxury of time? But maybe that's it. Maybe we realize that it's a luxury and we feel just a little too guilty enjoying what God meant to give us as a gift. 

The sad thing is that when I'm satisfactorily busy, Poppy and Cetty suddenly seem more in the way than normal, I don't have time for God, and Bry and I stop having fun together. Days and weeks go by and I'm not doing any of the most important things.

So, anyway. I like that quote. And here's what I've been doing the past couple of days to stop the glorification of busy...

* Sleeping in

* Snuggling Cetty

* Playing Candy Land with Poppy

* Taking my little sister out to eat at her favorite restaurant

* Taking a walk with Bry and the girls

* Reading the Bible

* Snuggling Cetty again

* Taking a long shower

* Watching the Pacers beat the Heat with Bry and my brother

* Making myself a vanilla latte

* Telling Poppy an extra story (about a bumblebee named Busby) at bedtime

* Blogging about the hidden joys of a not-so-busy life

...and I didn't even write these things down on a list. Well, until now. Oops.