The Dance

When you dance,

your purpose is not

to get to a certain place on the floor,

It's to enjoy each step

along the way.  

It is easy to get caught up in where you should be, or where you want to be, or even where you might think everyone else is.  Sometimes, we get so focused on the destination that we forget to enjoy the journey.  We keep missing the things around us because we are looking ahead to the next phase.  Like, when they laugh, when they crawl, when they walk, when they run, when they play sports, when they go to school, when they are in middle school, when they are teenagers, when they leave home.  

Our goal as parents is to raise children that are independent, self supporting and happy adults.  But if we become so focused on getting them there, we will forget to enjoy the small everyday moments that have become the breath of fresh air in my own world.  We forget to enjoy all the steps.  We forget to leave the "if only" behind.  

All of us would change things if we could about the past.  But those things we would change are not about hurrying faster, or doing more.  Most of the things I would change would be the time I didn't get to spend with them.  I think that I would choose to laugh more, to play more, to show them how much I loved them more.  I would want them to know how beautiful they are, how grateful I am for them everyday.  I would hold them more and scold them less.  I would want them to believe in themselves more, to know that I believed in them always.  

I would want to introduce them to the God that I have come to love.  I would teach them that He is always there, in the hard times and the sad times and the hopeless feeling times.  I would teach them to reach out to Him no matter what the sin, no matter how lost you feel, or how forgotten you think you might be.

If I could go back, the things that I would do more of are always those things that matter the most.  As I grow older, my eyes are opened more and I can see that each step we take should be cherished, enjoyed and lived in.  Our loving Heavenly Father does not expect us to always look toward the future.  He wants us to live in the present.  To be a part of our families and our friends.  He wants us to forget about where we are going, and focus on the movement along the way.  

I believe that He wants us to enjoy the dance.