Stop and Smell the Roses
Over the weekend, my husband and I started our next home project. We built a wooden mantle to sit on top of our existing one. The original fireplace has given me a pit since the day we moved in. What could have been an easy project, turned into quite the daunting task. Building it was rather easy. All we had to do was take some measurements, cut the wood, nail it together, and boom! However, I had a look I was going for. Therefore, the color had to be perfect. After staining it a weathered oak color, I hated it. My husband saw the defeat on my face, and sanded it for me by hand. Not to mention in the freezing cold. Bless this sweet, sweet man. So what did I do? I stained it the exact same color because I was convinced if I did more coats it would look better. WRONG. I hated it more. This was quite the self inflicted predicament. I couldn’t ask my husband to sand it again. So, while he was at work, I sanded it. Not knowing how hard this was going to be, it took me two days. To my surprise, my husband finished it while I was at work. When I got home we stained it and waited 24 hours before sitting it on top of our existing mantle. Let me tell y’all…. I am OBSESSED!
This isn’t the point of my story, I just wanted y’all to see how much time and effort this small project took. I tend to get something in my mind and go for it without hesitations. I seem to always be working on something and never stop to enjoy the things I’ve created and done. In college, I worked forty hours a week. I was a waitress and the best money shifts were Thursday-Sunday. So, I went to school Monday through Thursday, and worked Thursday through Sunday. During this busy schedule, I wanted to be a teacher ASAP. So what did I do? I took 18 hours a semester including the summers. In a matter of two years I had taken 108 hours. I’m not saying this to brag whatsoever, but to highlight the fact that I was crazy and so busy.
Once entering the teaching field, I immediately began my Masters. Then planned a wedding, and followed that with building a house. Once we got into our house it has been one project after the next. This past December I graduated with my masters and jumped right into blogging and instagramming almost as a second job. All of these things have been wonderful experiences, but looking back, the time has flown by. It makes me sad just thinking about has many years have swept by me without me even noticing.
This weekend when we were driving, I just felt the Lord telling me to slow down. It was heavy on my heart that I have been on a chase. A chase to do the next big thing, the next dream, the next accomplishment. I felt him tell me to sit back and look around and take it all in. I don’t need to keep jumping from project to project, yet I need to stop and smell the roses.
Do you ever feel yourself get so busy in the craziness of life or the own craziness you’ve created (hello, mantle)? I am so familiar with the feeling of busy and the anxiousness that comes with it. I think it is the world we live in. We put so such pressure on ourselves whether it be for the dreamer inside us or the feeling of comparison that can sneak its way into our lives. I had an epiphany this weekend. I don’t want to wake up in twenty years only to wonder how I got there. These are precious years we are living in. I want to be present and enjoy them. My husband I will eventually have children and the dynamic of our family will change. I want to enjoy these moments, for they cant be replaced.
The problem with being too busy is it distracts us from what is important. Relationships. Relationships with Jesus, your family, your friends, and coworkers. Slowing down and waiting is hard. Especially for the type a person that I am. But I know God can lay the hand of peace on me and help me.
God says (Colossians 3:2-3)
“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Mark 4:18-19
“And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.”
Our busyness is distracting and detrimental to our spiritual and mental health. Our relationship with Jesus should be our number one priority. These things in the world… they don’t matter. What does matter is him and our relationship with him. If we put him on the backburner, we are not seeking our hearts on what’s above, rather what is here on this earth.
I encourage you to stop and smell the roses. This can be especially hard in the middle of the year as a teacher, but it is what keeps us balanced. Relationships matter both with Jesus and those around you. You can still chase your dreams while having boundaries and watering the plants that give us life. I vow to enjoy these sweet moments. We don’t know how long we have , and I want to cherish all that I can while I am still here.