Summer is here…and with it I keep waiting for life to slow down. To settle into a dull, boring routine.

We haven’t found that yet in Putman-ville. How about y’all?

It has me on a quest to define normal. Yesterday we went strawberry picking and to the library. Follow that with a chaser of school (yes, I am that mom who makes her kids do school year round), swim team and gymnastics. We even managed to learn a new game. Tomorrow will have it’s own rhythm. Followed by an overnight men’s retreat, Sunday, and then my 12 y.o. leaves for youth camp…for four nights. Not sure this momma’s heart is ready for that…even as I know she is.

So is there normal? Should I seek it? Would we be happy with a life of mind-numbing routine and sameness? The adjectives I used there kind of indicate which way I lean. I have to face reality that I bore easily. I enjoy interacting with others too much. I almost jumped into several conversations as I was picking strawberries. Mind you these were total strangers!

Maybe my focus needs to shift to finding God’s presence in the whispers that are so easy to miss as I race about. Listen for that moment of insight as we enjoy a book in the car. Pause when the Holy Spirit urges me to crouch at my 2 y.o.’s eye level. To slow down long enough to bandage my 5 y.o.’s knees for the second time in thirty minutes. Maybe in seeing the pauses in my day…really seeing them…maybe then I can begin to really live.