17) Time Is Love

Time is love…. Time. Is. Love. The longer you think about that phrase, the more important it becomes and the more meaning it has. If you’re not familiar with this song by Josh Turner, here is the chorus:

“Time is love, gotta run. Love to hang longer, but I got someone who waits, waits for me and right now she's where I need to be. Time is love.”

How do you show someone that you love you them? You can spend 70 hours a week at work and make a lot of money to buy expensive, fancy things – and if that happens to be for a three-year-old, they will love the box it came in more and will want to make it into an airplane with you as the co-pilot. Why? Because Time Is Love. The big, fancy surprise means nothing if they must enjoy it alone.

 

Kids already know the secret – they already know that their favorite thing in the whole world is just you; it’s just hanging out with you, because with you is where they want to be. And for some reason, when you grow up, it’s so easy to lose that entire idea. It’s so easy to get sucked into the illusioned importance of a Ferrari and a mansion on the beach. It’s so easy to get sucked into staying four hours late at work or bringing home a small U-Haul of paperwork so that you don’t get behind, but even with that you are always still behind and there is always more to do!

When I first heard this song, it became my goal; I was tired of the mom guilt in my head of caring more about a teenager’s math test than time with my kids. My goal became to show that time is love and work is work; work will still be there tomorrow and time will be gone. I stopped staying four hours late and left the minute that the clock hit 2:40 (middle school starts really early!). I felt like such a good mom, because I was making time with my family my priority, and I was having so much fun just hanging out with my kids without anything else important to do. And then we lost Weston. I look back and am forever grateful that I realized that time was love and spent every moment that I could with my sweet boy. I never would have thought for a second that three months was all the time that I would get. And that’s the scary thing… we don’t know how much time we get with anyone. Yet it makes me feel so much better looking back at the time that I had and knowing that I didn’t spend all of my minutes wasted, because he was where I needed to be.

Time. Is. Love. is so difficult. Even though I know how important it is, I still catch myself until this very moment having to consciously remind myself of what’s important. It’s so easy to choose the most insignificant things (hello Facebook… I just love to see what everyone else is doing!) instead of playing house or restaurant or beauty parlor or racetrack (kids are busy!) with Taylee. Or how easy it is to have to catch up on Chicago P.D. instead of playing with Colton on the floor. And trust me… I get it. Playing with your kids is more work than any job I have ever had, and I am stinkin tired! Everybody needs a break, for sure! Time is love counts for you too.

This is just my reminder, my thought-provoker for you… make sure to find balance in your life; look closely at what’s really important to you. Know that your children, your spouse, your family, your friends all value time with you and that the pile of paperwork, the out of control inbox can wait until tomorrow. Time is love and they’re where you need to be. 

Taylee & Colton 2017

Taylee & Weston 2015

                   

Lesson #14