Life As A Fire Wife

Happy Monday all! (Well, it was two days ago, now Happy Wednesday) Ok, for a beach side town in the beginning of March, I’ll take this weather any day. Yeah, it’s 56 degrees and I’m walking my dog in a long sleeve shirt and jeans, no jacket, no hat, no boots, no gloves, not freezing, proud! I know right now, as my Florida family is reading this they are probably shivering at the thought, but in the North, I guess we were just built differently! (Again, two days ago it was gorgeous, today the hats and coats came back out as we wait for the snow).

I hope you all had a great weekend. Our weekend was filled with basketball. Basketball actually bookended our Saturday and Sunday. We started both days with basketball and ended both days with basketball, eating, sleeping, breathing basketball, but truth be told, I am totally enjoying being a basketball mom and watching Christopher and Evan play. Out of all the sports they could have chosen, I am thankful they chose basketball. I love the intensity and passion all these 6th and 8th grade boys go out and play with. The basketball community is really a cool thing and I’m happy to be a part of it (even if from my own introverted angle). Evan’s 6th grade team had a great win Friday night which meant they played Saturday morning when unfortunately, they lost, but after last season and only winning one game, they have had a much-improved season. Christopher’s 8th grade team got a first round bye so they didn’t play until Sunday night at 8 pm (feel free to insert vomit emoji next to 8pm on a Sunday night, double vomit emoji that the game was about 40 minutes away) where they won and advance to the semi finals Friday evening. We are not done yet!

That right there is the basketball recap. I had to write all of that as a precursor to my next thought, which is…I don’t know how many times this weekend, I told people that I was living between games. Which implies what? That during the games I wasn’t living? Or that the games didn’t count as anything? Neither one of these is true. In the moment this sounded appropriate, like a good summary of my weekend, but the English language is a funny thing sometimes between sarcasm, irony, being facetious, saying something literally or figuratively… How was I living between basketball games when watching my boys play basketball was the highlight of my weekend? There were many things I did between games, grocery shopped, dog park, read a book, went to the gym, watched tv, cooked, ate, etc. But watching my kids play ball, was when I felt most alive. I used all of my senses to take in the atmosphere of the gym, the game, the plays… I cheered when things were going well, I encouraged when things didn’t go as planned, I put my hands over my eyes when things were getting intense, I let out a breath of relief when my kid scored from the foul line. I try to not let my life revolve around my kids or let them be the center of my universe, no person should have that much power in your life, but I also don’t want to minimize the joy they bring to my life, even in sports.

When it comes down to it, how often do we think, feel, or say something similar? Like, “One day.” or “tomorrow,” “later,” “someday,” “when I’m retired,” “when I have more money,” “when I have more time,” “when the kids grow up…” Why do we so often catch ourselves waiting to make things happen. I’ve waited 30 years to give myself a chance to write full time because I had a million excuses and then some. I don’t want to do that anymore. Not to encourage impulsivity. It is a good idea to save money for something, to have a well thought out plan, a timeline, etc. What I am saying is, why put off until tomorrow what you can do today. What I could do today that will make my hopes and dreams a reality? Nobody knows what tomorrow will bring, the Bible tells us that God doesn’t promise us tomorrow, instead He gives us what we need for today. I don’t want to squander today by living in between. I want to live today by living each moment in the now. I don’t want to minimize the good or the things I enjoy. I want to enjoy my life to the fullest and embrace the love and the life that God has so graciously gifted me with. I don’t want to live in between, be it sports, errands, shifts at the firehouse, vacations, house chores, outings, workouts, etc. I want to live through. I want to live through each moment, each breath, each victory, each heartache, each laughter, each tear. Life in between is not for me. I want to do better than that.

Do you feel like you are living in between? Are you waiting to do something or living through a difficult season of life right now? Do you have trouble figuring out what you want? Are you a procrastinator (like me)? I want to encourage you to live boldly, to bring your in between or whatever you are going through to God and ask Him for wisdom for your next steps. I’d love to hear what you are up to, please leave a comment below.