I’ve been feeling the call recently to slow down. It’s been the topic at my MOPS group, it’s been something that’s come up in my prayer life, and it’s something that comes to mind when I think of some of my goals this year like celebrating everyday miracles or creating a peaceful home.
What’s been perplexing about this recurring theme is that I feel like I HAVE slowed down so much. The past year I have said no to so many things it would make my past self’s head spin. I’ve given up things that were not good for me and filling my time, and I’ve given up some really good things that I truly love but are not feasible in this season, and I’m dreaming about what I can add because I’m feeling a little bit restless. But I’m also still feeling quite a bit rest-less and so the call of “slow down” remains.
I’m not sure what that’s going to mean for the next few months- maybe I need to slow down with the activities I’m doing now to make room for more options in other areas of life, maybe I need to just drop even more, maybe I need to blog less, maybe I need to blog more so I’m forcing some physical downtime in my day… it’s an ongoing exploration.
This week it manifested in less multi tasking and paying attention to the everyday beauty and joys all around me. One example that I posted on my instagram account was the sheer delight my kids have when they get to have blueberries for a snack. My oldest squeals with delight while my younger one pounds her fists on her high chair tray with the biggest grin. I’m not sure if she actually registers the word blueberries or if she’s just excited her brother is excited or both, but it was a highlight of my day. The next day I took a selfie with my daughter and realized she is becoming an expert at mimicking facial expressions which brought an insane amount of joy.
Another thing I payed attention to this week was when I dropped my son off for his catechesis class the weather was nice enough to go for a long walk. I had a good phone call with a friend while my daughter napped in the stroller and when she woke up we took a walk around the campus of my church and the schools connected to it and I saw all sorts of lovely things that I look at all the time but don’t really stop to see very often. Flowers, architecture, statues, so much beauty right there in the sunshine. And it seems really silly and hippy like to even write about it, but I’m including the pictures below because I needed those things. I’ve been struggling with a positive perspective recently and feeling jealousy and frustration creep into my thoughts and I know that those feelings are the antithesis to action, to gratitude, to anything productive. So instead of dwelling on what I can’t do or don’t have in this moment- here are a few lovely things I got to look at on my walk this week.

I pass by this every week- usually twice a week- but rarely really see how beautiful it is.

Arizona really doesn’t know what season it is, but these vibrant blooms don’t care…

OK, this probably shouldn’t be funny, but I couldn’t stop laughing about how this lovely fountain with this particular saying had NO WATER… I love some good irony…

I hope this post sends you into the weekend with some beauty.