Sunday Soliloquy: Getting Reconnected

I've been hitting the marketing so hard lately that I haven't taken the time to just blog about thoughts and feelings. I'm sure that's why Heavenly Father gave us the Sabbath, blessed it and set it apart, asking us to focus on nourishing our spirits and to step away from work and our earthly stresses. We can get so caught up in the rat race of work, housework, homework, bills, and grocery shopping that we forget to stop and think about the beauty around us every day, how blessed we are, and to take moments here and there to appreciate our families.

Admittedly, some days that's easier than others. I was just interrupted in the middle of writing that last sentence by one son putting a toy in another sibling's mouth, and I had to deliver the, "Some jokes are funny, and some jokes are dangerous. Yes, it's fun to tease, but you need to think through the consequences of your teasing" speech for about the twelfth time today. We've also been down the, "No, it's not funny when you accidentally fart in a sibling's face" road, along with hearing/delivering the "Keep your fingers out of your nose" speech, the "You are going to sit still in sacrament meeting" speech, and the "Keep your seat belt buckled or I'll pull over and we won't drive one more foot, and we'll all sit here and bake to death" speech.

That was a sidenote which aptly illustrates the fact that you can't always predict what you'll run into in the course of a day. Some days, you'll be able to tackle your jobs peacefully. Other days, you'll be begging for two seconds of peace and quiet so you can pray or read your scriptures, only to be denied that by overflowing toilets and sick children and work emergencies ... the list goes on.

But we each have a string that ties us to our Heavenly Father, and it's up to us to make sure it's connected every day. Sometimes the threads get a little frayed and we need to repent in order to replace them. Sometimes we just get busy (which is far too often my problem) and we forget to check on that string and it falls into disrepair. I can always tell when I'm getting a little too far adrift - my temper is quicker to turn angry, I don't feel as if I have direction, I struggle to find joy. But on days when I really take that time to connect, I have inner peace. It doesn't seem to matter what happens on those days - I can handle it.

How blessed we are to have a way to find calm in the middle of the storm. How I wish I'd remember it more often instead of trying to weather out the storm by myself and ending up with a face full of salt water.