Christmas Wonder

Christmas has come to an end and the New Year is here. Good-byes were said to my son and his wife as they returned back to their military life. Those good-byes never get easier. Having my family together is a precious gift. I wish I had more photos to capture are moments together, but I know the memories will always be stored in my heart, which is more precious than a photo.

I was happy to see writer Jeff Goins share similar sentiments in one of his recent posts. He writes on how we have a few choices on what to do with wonder. Goins suggests we can either try to capture it, reproduce it or choose to enjoy it.

"We can try to capture it 

We can try to hold onto the beauty and the splendor, catching a piece of it with our gadgets and gizmos, even our memories and journals.

But in doing so, we cheapen the thing itself and distract ourselves from being present to the moment.

We can try to reproduce it

Don’t kid yourself: All your tweeting and Instagramming is not the same as watching a sunset. When we catalogue every single memory in photo albums, we’re missing out. We’re not remembering; we’re creating cheap facsimiles of true beauty.

Certainly, these things have their place, but we can’t deceive ourselves into thinking a Polaroid is nearly as good as the original. Can we?

We can enjoy it

Of course, it’s impossible to actually capture or reproduce wonder. The best way to appreciate beauty, I’ve found, is to simply say, “Thank you.” To God or nature or your next-door neighbor. To be grateful for this moment, even if it may be fleeting (sometimes, because of the fact).

The next time you’re having a moment — maybe seeing the world through a child’s eyes or smiling at the sight of your town covered in snow — I hope you resist the urge, at least for a moment, to try to capture and reproduce it for the world to see and instead simply enjoy the wonder." Read full post here.

For me, time with my family is a miraculous wonder...it has a beauty beyond words. During those two weeks together I choose to enjoy each and every moment. I would stop by my older sons bedroom and stare at him sleeping in what is usually now an empty room. As we celebrated Christmas together I enjoyed watching the smiles as they exchanged gifts with each other. My heart was full of joy from simply having everyone under the same roof.

Thank you, God. I'm so grateful for the family you have given me and the wonder of time together.

My son said to me before he left that he was ready to return back to his home...he missed his house and bed. He seemed to have some guilt in telling me this, but as much as I hated to see him leave I responded by saying I completely understood. You see, I must admit I was also anxious to get back to the routine of my day.

The coming and goings of this older son of mine and the unknown of what the day would hold was not easy on this mother who thrives on planning her day. But I will take this kind of interruption to my routine...there isn't much I wouldn't do to have my family together.

A picture is still treasured. I realized how much so as my husband and I began the process of becoming a minimalist family. We started with one of the closets which happened to be one full of old photos.  As we came across old family photos our eyes lit up as the memories came flooding in.

I believe what Jeff Goins was telling us is there are times when we need to choose to enjoy the wonder of a moment. To be careful not to loose the moment in the midst of trying to capture or reproduce it.