Grateful for the Busy-ness

(I wrote this 3 days ago, meaning to post 1 Grateful blog post every day this week.  Clearly that didn't happen.  But it didn't because we've been busy.  Which is fitting for the post topic.  Thankfully, we've been busy hanging out with loved ones this week.  Blog or spend time with family, that was the question.)

One of the things that makes it so easy to forget to be grateful is the fact that we are busy.  Rob and I end up swapping the kids back and forth on our way out the door.  There's more to be done than can possibly be accomplished.  There's more that we want to say to each other than we have time to fit in.  Some days we run and run and run and still nothing seems to get done, and our exhaustion is all we have to show for it.

It can be a real downer.

But lately I've truly been grateful for the busy-ness.  It really sharpens our focus.  It's easy to see what we need and what we don't need.  Somehow it's easier to be soft and kind, because both of us realize that the other is working Hard, and both of us are trying our best.  I'm quicker to let things go, to forgive and forget, and kiss and make up.  (Rob didn't need to work on this, because he's always been good at it.)  I'm more focused on creating a happy environment at home because our home really is where we come to be at peace and wind down.  We don't have time to have an unhappy home.

So it's become a great ... purging experience for me.  I feel like a lot of my most important relationships - with myself, with my Heavenly Father, with my spouse and kids - have become simpler and yet more meaningful.  It's hard to explain.  A lot of the extra crap that I'd let exist because it COULD exist, I've striped that away.  There's just no time for extra baggage.

Plus, the busy-ness makes us 100x more grateful for the down time we do have.  I've started creating some down time every day, cause I need it.  I don't feel guilt about it, and I don't think about what I have to do next.  Then, when we get down time together as a couple or as a family, it's cherished time.  On top of that, it makes me want to do more with the kids!  There are 2 nights a week that I'm gone, so when I'm here, I want to be with them.  It makes everything more important somehow.

So hurray for busy-ness and the clarity it brings.  I feel like Heavenly Father is aware of us, that He's guiding and directing us, and I feel a singleness of purpose, even though there are so many things we're trying to accomplish.  This is one of our choicest blessings right now, and I am immensely grateful for it.