Spencer's Dominoes
Spencer is my 3rd child he loves to play with dominos and a special friend gave him these new dominos as an early Christmas gift. He called me into the kitchen and said “Mommy take a picture of them. I made a pattern!! Can you see the pattern?”
There are so many patterns in our lives we are born we live we die. We are children we are adults we are elderly. We are hungry we eat we are full. We sleep we wake we are tired we sleep we wake and the list goes on and on. We don’t really look at our lives as a series of patterns but if we were to reflect on this idea we would find many patterns of behavior beneficial. We, humans are quite habitual beings. We like routine and rituals. As parents we are taught by books and teachers to instill routines into our children’s everyday lives because it builds stability they can understand and trust. Routines are not bad in and of themselves however, when we get into a routine and lose the meaning behind it we find ourselves in a rut. We have all been there if we are not there right now.
I go through times of hating to fix dinner so I just stop and my husband does it for awhile. I can’t stand laundry; honestly I can’t believe anyone can truly enjoy folding the same clothes over 20 times in the same month. Then there are the routines I look forward to daily; tucking my kids into bed every night talking alone with them and praying together, vegging out in front of the TV for a pointless sitcom after everyone else is asleep, writing in my journal every night and the list goes on. At times some of the routines and patterns I look forward to can seem tedious when I have forgotten the meaning behind the routine.
What routines do you have daily? What patterns do you complete daily? What routines do you hate? What routines do you look forward to in your life? What are the reasons the routines were established for in your life? Are you still true to their meaning?
I wish I could let go of the cooking and laundry but I am responsible for feeding and clothing my children so I have to just suck it up and do it! I need to look at the meaning behind those routines and why it is so important once in awhile to get me going. I need to also appreciate that I have the food to feed my children and the washing machine and dryer to do the laundry when many have neither for their families.
Today take a few minutes to think about your routines and the reasons behind them and just maybe complete them with a fresh enthusiasm this day!
