Care-a-laters

My sweet Paris is always teaching me things. She (and her brother) love the Care Bears. They are for the most part cute and tolerable so I don't mind this obsession of theirs much. The Care Bears have a Caring Meter in Care-a-lot (that's whre they live). It looks a lot like a gas guage on a car. I guess to Paris is looks like a clock.

Now, she know that clocks tell time. Digital clocks are just that, clocks. Watches are either watches with buttons (digital) or watches with turny things (regular). Small clocks (travel alarm size) are just clocks too. Anything larger than that, however, transforms from a clock into a "Care-a-later." My Nana has an old clock on her mantle that is Paris' favorite, but pretty much any clock big enough to be hung on the wall is a care-a-later. Funny thing is she still knows they tell time and are not showing how much caring is going on. She came out from rest-time (we don't call it nap time anymore since she refuses to nap) and said "My care-a-later is pointing up at the 12 so I can come out!" She was correct.

This whole thing has had me thinking though. I think, as alway, she is on to a bigger message. I think clocks - all of our clocks - are indeed caring meters. After all, they tell us where our time is spent, and where we spend our time show us what we really care about. How much time we spend at work, playing with our kids, watching TV, reading a good book, reading God's Word, in fellowship with others, sleeping, etc....

This realization has helped me re-evaluate some things. I now turn my computer off during the day. I only use it first thing in the morning, during rest-time, and after the kids go to bed. I'm trying to spend more time playing in the floor with the kids (though the growing belly makes that tough). I'm not fussing when Easy has to spend his time taking care of things outside of this house because I know he is doing it all for our future and because he loves his children so much it can bring him to tears (trust me, I've seen it). I'm trying to spend less time on my couch and more time getting this done that will help my family be strong and healthy both mentally and physically. I'm trying to use the little time we have on earth to do what it is God wants me to do - and sometimes that hard (but that's a whole other blog entry).

So tomorrow, I encourage you to strap on your care-a-later and see where your time goes. It truly is a good representation of where your heart is. We don't know how much of this time stuff we have, so I hope we can all learn to use it as best we can and remember that moments spent in relationship with others are usually way more importnant than blogging or getting the dishes done.