Choosing Love

Rachel over at Hands Free Mama had a great post today about Choosing Love and a 21-day challenge to do just that. I'll let you read it yourself, because it will be worth the 3 minutes it will take you to do so, but in essence the challenge is about spending 3 weeks being present for those who need us and choosing those folks over the things that normally distract us. Saying yes to playing with our children instead of crossing something off of our to-do list. Putting away the computer so we can give them our full attention. Not getting upset with our children when they make a mistake. And forgiving ourselves for the mistakes we make as well.
This challenge will probably present itself differently for each person that chooses to accept it. For Rachel, this means a break from blogging (and probably lots of other changes as well). For me, this will mean saving my blogging and most of my work until after the kids are in bed. It will mean snuggling with P for an extra 5 minutes at bedtime, even though I will be very ready to have a few moments to myself. It will mean playing ponies and stuffed animals (again) even though I would really rather clean the house or check my email.
This doesn't mean than in my normal non-challenge days that I am not choosing love.... Of course I love spending time with my children more than doing the dishes and I would rather read them a book than write another email. But life, and its distractions, do get in the way. And it's easy to forget what really matters. It's easy to become focused on the tangible things that need to get done (sweeping the floor), and put off the less tangible things (showing my children that they matter to me) until we have a free moment (when's that?). So, for the next three weeks, I am going to choose love. The dishes can wait. I  guarantee they will still be there when the kids go to bed.