An Unexpected Twist

Self-Reflection is a good thing.  I have been reflecting on my life and trying to make every day count.  In addition to my new Christmas traditions, I want to make some permanent changes.  It seems I blinked and my children became teenagers, the kind of teenagers that like to hibernate in their rooms every evening.  So, I decided we were going to call them out of their "caves", make them ditch the cellphones and watch a family movie.

I had DVR'd the movie that K-love was talking about, A Walk in My Shoes and I wanted all of us to see it together.  I was pretty excited about it because we all snuggled up on our couch with our blankets and began our family time.  I just knew this was going to be a great night, an opportunity for us to talk about the movie, be silly and just love on eachother.

In the movie a teenage boy was asked to write an english paper on an incident that changed his life.  I began to think about what I would write about and wondered if my kids were thinking the same thing.  It addressed some good topics such as honor and considering the consequences of your actions.  As I looked over at my daughter I saw that she had fallen asleep. I have to admit, I was disappointed. I thought, great..there goes our family time and my hopes that she could take something away from watching the movie too.  But, I just let her sleep while the rest of us watched the movie. 

I don't want to give the movie away, but I will say that the evening took an unexpected twist as I watched the main character and all that she went through.  I realized that I could relate to some of what she "was" and then what she was going to become.  There was a defining moment for me when she realized for herself that alot of the caos in her life was because she wasn't slowing down long enough to just listen to her own family - to really, really listen to them. She was being selfish by working and cleaning and making sure everything was "perfect."

I get so frustrated, mostly on a daily basis because things aren't cleaned the way I think they should be, we don't have enough time to do certain things around the house or have too many errands to run.  But, what I have been missing is just the "relational" part of the family, the just being us and enjoying all the craziness of us. Strong families are rare. I want my family to be happy, secure, strong and full of love.

I had hoped to get the kids to realize how much they need to spend time with us and do more around the house and value our family time but at the end of the movie, I realized it was for ME.  I just love how God reveals things even through the most simple things...like a movie.   I need to be a better listener for my family, and I need to be more available with my quality time.  I am truly blessed.

"You can't change the past but you can overcome it, it's up to you." - A Walk in My Shoes