To Be Willing

As the seasons have shifted, the dead barren branches in our backyard have developed into a lively, green and thick forest.

Spring is here and while the flowers bud, I find myself reflecting on personal growth from past to present, and gain anticipation for the present to future.

The best reason I have been given to learn and prosper is that of my marriage and bring mama to two young boys. It is within my home where I find the best opportunity to be willing to learn, able to teach, and excited to evolve.

This week, our boys have both reached big milestones.

While Levi ditched his baby bath and is gearing up to crawl, Ben ditched his binky and is expanding his personal dictionary in leaps and bounds.

There are times that I want to roll Levi back over to his back, or allow Ben to speak his own dialect we have all come to know and love, but growing up is inevitable. I need to, and typically have, enjoyed every different stage they have gone through. Some stages I am more excited to get to the other side, if I am being completely honest, but seeing them advance and grow is a remarkable thing to be apart of.

There is a time to grow and a time to change, and that is alongside of every tick and every tock of this beautiful life raising children.

This goes for marriage too. Jakob and I recently hit a wall. We were not getting enough uninterrupted husband and wife time. While this time does not come easy when you have two very young children, it is critical to make it a priority when your love language is quality time.

While our children seem to be passing time on a highway, our marriage was stuck at a traffic circle.

Maybe I am the only one, but traffic circles stress me out.

The yield signs, the cars going around and around, entering it, exiting it, the whole thing makes me nuts.

Now picture this:

your relationship comes up to that yield, you need to make a move or growing old together will only be accurate it terms of age.

So you make your move, great, but now you need to be careful not to get stuck in a cycle of hurt and anger.

Almost every conflict has obstacles inside of other obstacles.

You must weave through each lane in a safe and kind manner to get back on track.

So what did we do to get out of the struggle? We accepted the season we were in, learned from our disappointments, made changes and are constantly learning to flourish where we are.

It is new, it is change, it appears scary, and most importantly it is a beautiful journey.

I am going to end with this…

I dare you to embrace change & spark growth. I dare you to make moves to get out of your traffic circle.

I dare you to be willing.

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