Iced In

Today marks the third day of being inside the house because of an ice storm.  It is all the city, and apparently bloggers, can talk about.  Well that and the Super Bowl.  I digress.  Not being able to go anywhere, and reading endless Facebook posts from around the country, has continually reminded me of something.  We are a society starved for intimacy.

We plan and organize the endless activities and responsibilities we have as women.  For some, it is figuring out how to work outside and inside of the home while spending enough time with their children and/or spouse.  For others, it is trying to manage extra-curricular activities, sports, their homes and time with their husbands after school and work or on the weekends.  For an even different group of people, it is trying to balance homeschooling, housework, co-ops, and being an attentive wife.  Throw in Facebook, weekly sitcoms, blog-stalking, smartphones, and running errands, and of course we think we don't have time to be still.

A pastor I really respect, John Piper, once posted, "One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time."  We have time to pursue the things most important to us, but do we make the time?  Many days I don't.  I don't spend (enough) time in prayer or reading my Bible, I fail to pursue my children's hearts instead of looking at them like a responsibility, I choose to get on Facebook instead of tending to my home, and I justify why I am not engaging my husband.  No one can do all of these things perfectly, and nearly all of us fall short in one of these areas daily.  The point is we have time if we make it.

What a blessing to be able to spend a few days with our kids and have no where to go.  As young parents we are told frequently to cherish the moments of our kids' childhoods because it goes so fast.  How often do our lives get slowed down enough to enjoy the fruit of our labor and toil?