Making Memories that Matter

Every so often I get emails from MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) International. Just now I got an email I really needed to read and I thought I would share.

Making Memories that Matter
By Katherine Craddock

Spring is finally here! With this fresh new season comes a flood of memories of the spring before. But as hard as I try, I can’t recall the laundry I folded, the dishes I washed, or even the beloved flowers I spent hours planting last spring.

I remember yelling at my kids for interrupting my email writing, my Facebook time and the season finales of a dozen reality shows that have since slipped from my mind. Those deadlines and projects were so important at the time, but now, like those flowers I planted, they’ve faded away, never to return.

"For this season of your life,
I challenge you:
make memories that last."

Thankfully, though, I do remember some things that seemed boring and non-urgent. Like the dandelion crown I placed on my daughter’s head and the night we cuddled on a blanket in the backyard and stared at the clouds until the stars came out. And bubbles. Popsicles. Galloping around the yard like a pony. Tackling my boys and playing baseball with them. Slow moments, all of them. Non-urgent moments without deadlines.

There is not one material thing, one worldly accomplishment, even one friendship that I now value more than those precious, fleeting moments with my little girl who’s now in Kindergarten and my boys. For this season of your life, I challenge you: make memories that last. Savor the small. Treasure your time with your babies in your heart, and tear yourself away from the unimportant. You will never, ever regret it.

God, help me slow down once a day to make a memory my whole family will cherish.