Someone else gets it.
I had just finished reading Notes from A Blue Bike by Tsh Oxenreider and my heart was pounding. This book was suggested from another blogger and I thought why not.
I know God was speaking to me the moment I picked it up. The title alone was something I had already been journaling about. I wanted to know if the choices we (my hubby and I) were making (or not making) were good choices when so many times they weren't easy choices or seemed to be abnormal choices.
I needed to hear that the way we live and perfer to live was okay. I needed to hear that way we wanted to live was okay. Seemed some choices we had made weren't making either of us happy.
I know, I know I don't need validation from anyone, but sometimes you just need to know you aren't alone. Or some ideas to help you recognize there is more options.
See my hubby and I are not from around these parts (not from Texas). We are from a much slower paced part of the U.S. (New Mexico) and have had a hard time fitting in.
We don't like to make plans three months in advance. It seems just to have dinner with friends we need to send out a save the date evite months in advance. We much perfer to spend the day BBQ with friends on a spur of the moment thing than plan and make a big production. We like the one on one events; the evenings spent on the patio at our home mean more to us than a night on the town or a big party.
So this is just one silly example but a true example of things we ponder about many times.
Her book was awesome. Her book wasn't all about dinner and plans and the stuff I mentioned above BUT it was about making choices that work or fit best for your family.
It was about swimming up stream in the world we live in today. Swimming up stream may mean we have to sometimes make intentional choices so we can slow down, enjoy our kids and family. It talked about education, travel, kids, money, work, food etc etc. It was not another chart, formula or "your doing it wrong" book. It was just a book about her life, her families life style and the choices her hubby and her make. We are not by all means going to copy her but it allows us to re-examine some of our choices and to keep many choices we have made.
When I put the book down I realized how much my family was different than most and we were going to continue to do things differently. I wanted to buy this book for everyone I knew who also was swimming up stream as encouragement to just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. (Finding Nemo quote)
So I encourage anyone who is maybe wanting a change for their family to read this book. Join some of us who are making choices that seem abnormal to society but are really quite normal so we can slow down and enjoy life. Join some of us who are enjoying the life of blessing others. Join some of us who love to swat flies on the patio, drink a cold beverage and watch the sun go down.
You can't wait until tomorrow to not be busy. It is a choice.
I promise swimming up stream is worth it.