How Quickly Time Passes

Wow, when I read the date of my last Laney's Musings post, I was reminded how quickly time passes.  Calendar pages have flipped, and I've only given it a fleeting thought.  When I last wrote, it was springtime, and now here we are in the midst of summer.  Most of my outdoor potted plants are looking sad and weary, and our vegetable garden (what is left of it) is languishing in the sun from the excessive heat.  A friend said recently, "I don't have to cook my tomatoes, they are cooking on the vine". 

The one-year anniversary of my retirement has come and gone.  So many changes have occurred in my life this past year.  Last July, after years of heading out the door for work by seven thirty each weekday morning, I began adjusting to a new routine.  My to-do list in hand, with lots of plans for the future, I ventured into foreign territory.  I wish I could say I've put a check-mark beside each item on my bucket list, but that would be lying.  

In general, I am pleased with most of my accomplishments, although I've failed miserably at a few.  My exercise and weight-loss goals....well, let's just not talk about that, okay?  Spending more time with my precious grandbabies has been such a blessing.  They are growing so fast.  I see God's thumb print on their lives already.  Although at times I wish they could stay little forever, I'm also excited to envision their futures.  In the words of the wise sage, Dr. Seuss, "oh, the places they will go and the thinks they will think"!  But more importantly, I pray they develop a close personal relationship with their Creator at an early age, and that His hand keeps them close all the days of their lives.      

Seize the opportunity to build relationships with children, they are SO WORTH THE TIME.  Their curiosity is amazing, their sense of humor is contagious, and their honesty is refreshing.  Children will tell us the truth, whereas adults flatter with what we want to hear.  Point in fact, my granddaughter rubs the back of my upper arm and sweetly says, "Laney, your arms are so fluffy."  What a nice way to say, "Laney, your arms are fat".

I was reminded today of a crewel embroidery piece I stitched before our first son was born.  It hung in the nursery for many years.  Today it's tucked away --somewhere.  The piece depicts a young mother rocking her baby, and the verse quotes the last few lines of Song For a Fifth Child, by Ruth Hamilton, written in 1958.  

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth
empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
hang out the washing and butter the bread,
sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
and out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
but I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
for children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

James 4:13 & 14 says, "Come now, you who say, “ Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away."

Life is short.  Time is wasting.  Invest in something worthwhile...go hug a child, rock some babies!

Copyright 2012 Laney's Musings