Stickers and Priorities

Never in my life have I fully appreciated stickers, until this week.

If it's true that our priorities can be identified as the things we spend the most time pursuing and engaging, then stickers are clearly the top priority in my daughter's life this week. It's been amazing. I've had time to respond to emails AND paint my nails. Put the dishes away AND clean the stove. Pick up the toys AND put the laundry away in record time. I'm writing a blog. The microwave is clean. I feel like a new woman.

I know it won't last, but for now, those sticky little pieces of paper all over my carpet are going to get the credit and the honor they deserve. Life-changing. The quietness and stillness of our house while those sweet little fingers work so hard to peel and place, peel and place, peel and place... It's all so beautiful, I could cry.

And speaking of priorities...

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As our family came into the new year, we received the news from the ultrasound tech that the baby joining our home soon will be another girl! We are ecstatic to turn up the girl power even further in our home, and Tim is proudly and happily resting in the fact that he will be the most important man in his three girls' lives... at least until the two youngest start to notice boys. Lord help us. 

For me, the news of another soon-to-arrive pink bundle also came with this awareness... I'll now have two precious little girls watching every move I make. When I talk to their daddy, when I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror, when I'm working, when I'm resting, ... little eyes will see. They already do. And when they look at me, what do they (will they) see?

Do they see a mother who pursues righteousness - or one who is distracted? Do they see a mother who looks daily more like her Savior - or one who often looks anxious and flustered? Will they see a mother who is haunted by her insecurities - or one who is free and at rest in the joy of God?

And through the eyes of my daughters... what will they say are my stickers?

I've always had a close relationship with my own mother, so I know how much I've always paid attention to her - how much I still do. I know how much of an impact her faith and her life's priorities have had on my own. The 'stickers' in her life have always been evident to me. She has walked with, pursued, and known the Lord through all of life's seasons - and her daughter has benefited from the time she's spent in His presence.

I desire the same for my daughter... for my daughters. 

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Priorities and goals are often the trending topics of discussion in January, and my life is no exception. I do have some measurable goals for the year.

One of them is to read 70 books this year. Another is to keep my weight significantly healthier during this second pregnancy. (So far, so good!) I'm also leading a bible reading group with a few friends, in which we're reading through the entire Bible together by the end of 2018. My heart's most prominent conviction in 2017 was to spend more time in the Word and incorporate it more in our home, so many of my personal goals this year (and goals for our home) will be centered on that.

But as the Tennessee weathermen begin to forecast ice and snow, as holiday receipts are finally all reconciled and new diet plans begin, at the start of another January I am freshly reminded above all else of the new mercies God offers us each morning (Lam. 3:22-24). I find myself confessing and requesting once again that God would give me a heart of wisdom and that He would help me to number my days (Psalm 90:12). At the start of a brand new year full of mystery and new life and a new baby, I re-commit to pursuing Him first and His righteousness - believing that all else will be added to me if He believes it will be good for me (Matt. 6:33).

And for my Lord, for my soul, for my husband, for my daughters... may all the 'stickers' in my life this year be Christ.