Reason #525
Aaron and I went on a dinner date tonight. We do a pretty good job of keeping ourselves busy and so sometimes we forget to go on a "date." You know what I mean by this. Not an "I'm tired and I don't feel like cooking so let's go grab a burger" outing but an intentional "put on a dress, touch up my make-up, and go somewhere we wouldn't normally pick" outing. Of course, we were gladly home by 7:45 and ready for sweatpants and TV. Living the good life. But it's nice every once in a while to do things differently. And although I'm a girl who likes to take it easy and keep things simple, sometimes it's worth the effort to go out of your way to intentionally make a good memory. After all, time is limited and once it is spent, we never get it back.
About an hour before the bank closed today, a little girl came in to spend her bank bucks. We give out bank bucks to our customers so they can shop in our bank store, which actually has some pretty cool things. And like I always tell people, it's way more fun to spend someone else's money. So this little cutie had been saving her bank bucks for quite some time and had been persistently asking her dad to bring her by to do some shopping. She came bouncing into the bank in a hot pink maxi dress with a little tiny purse dangling off of her arm. She quickly ran over and picked out a pink stuffed animal along with some candy. A girl after my own heart! Her dad reminded her to pay for her items. She fumbled around with her tiny purse for a bit attempting to pull out the stash of bank bucks that were tightly tucked inside. I counted out her money, gave the rest back to her to put back into her tiny purse for a later date along with her candy, and handed her the stuffed animal. She was thrilled with her purchase, and I could hardly keep myself from squeezing her she was so cute! Another man walked by and asked the little girl's father how old she was. He said she was 4 and the man said, "I remember when mine was that age. She's 20 now." The little girl's father said, "I'm not ready for that. I'm trying to spend as much time with her now as she will let me." And my heart swelled watching this father interact with his sweet daughter, but I realized that in seemingly a week, she will be 20.
It's the little moments that make life sweet. It's the moments out of the ordinary that you remember, that mean the most to you. It's not the everyday routine that you cling to. It's not the monotony that you recall when you are reminiscing. It's those intentional moments in life when you set aside time and make a point to spend it with someone. And maybe that means you have to spend a little more money, give up some of your time, go out of your way, or do something you didn't originally plan. But it's those occasions that we talk the most about. Those are the stories we share. Because I bet you when that dad and little girl got home, he told his wife all about that experience. And I bet when that little girl is 20, he is going to remember that time he took her shopping at the bank. And so maybe it took a little pestering on her part to get them there, but I could tell on his face that when they left he was really glad they had spent those few minutes shopping together.
It's easy to let life pass you by. It's easy to get caught up in the flow and routine and the next thing you know, it's next year. And so all of those things you were going to do you never did. You put them off to do later and when later came, you took a rain check. And now it's too late. But that's the joy of life, you can starting being intentional at anytime. You can start making memories and fun experiences. You don't have to wait for the right moment. You don't have to wait until you've reached a certain age or attained a certain amount of money. Because I've found that the memories I hold on to, the ones that are dearest to me, are the moments in my life when I got to spend time with someone I love doing something out of the norm. Those are the ones I appreciate the most, and those are the ones I desire to make.
Be intentional. Don't let time pass you by. Don't let your babies grow up without sweet memories, don't let 20 years of marriage simply be full of monotonous routine, don't let your family fade away or your friendships disappear. Give yourself good things to think about and remember that a passed up opportunity doesn't always come back around.
#525 - For intentional moments to break routine and make sweet memories!
"And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." - Philippians 4:8
About an hour before the bank closed today, a little girl came in to spend her bank bucks. We give out bank bucks to our customers so they can shop in our bank store, which actually has some pretty cool things. And like I always tell people, it's way more fun to spend someone else's money. So this little cutie had been saving her bank bucks for quite some time and had been persistently asking her dad to bring her by to do some shopping. She came bouncing into the bank in a hot pink maxi dress with a little tiny purse dangling off of her arm. She quickly ran over and picked out a pink stuffed animal along with some candy. A girl after my own heart! Her dad reminded her to pay for her items. She fumbled around with her tiny purse for a bit attempting to pull out the stash of bank bucks that were tightly tucked inside. I counted out her money, gave the rest back to her to put back into her tiny purse for a later date along with her candy, and handed her the stuffed animal. She was thrilled with her purchase, and I could hardly keep myself from squeezing her she was so cute! Another man walked by and asked the little girl's father how old she was. He said she was 4 and the man said, "I remember when mine was that age. She's 20 now." The little girl's father said, "I'm not ready for that. I'm trying to spend as much time with her now as she will let me." And my heart swelled watching this father interact with his sweet daughter, but I realized that in seemingly a week, she will be 20.
It's the little moments that make life sweet. It's the moments out of the ordinary that you remember, that mean the most to you. It's not the everyday routine that you cling to. It's not the monotony that you recall when you are reminiscing. It's those intentional moments in life when you set aside time and make a point to spend it with someone. And maybe that means you have to spend a little more money, give up some of your time, go out of your way, or do something you didn't originally plan. But it's those occasions that we talk the most about. Those are the stories we share. Because I bet you when that dad and little girl got home, he told his wife all about that experience. And I bet when that little girl is 20, he is going to remember that time he took her shopping at the bank. And so maybe it took a little pestering on her part to get them there, but I could tell on his face that when they left he was really glad they had spent those few minutes shopping together.
It's easy to let life pass you by. It's easy to get caught up in the flow and routine and the next thing you know, it's next year. And so all of those things you were going to do you never did. You put them off to do later and when later came, you took a rain check. And now it's too late. But that's the joy of life, you can starting being intentional at anytime. You can start making memories and fun experiences. You don't have to wait for the right moment. You don't have to wait until you've reached a certain age or attained a certain amount of money. Because I've found that the memories I hold on to, the ones that are dearest to me, are the moments in my life when I got to spend time with someone I love doing something out of the norm. Those are the ones I appreciate the most, and those are the ones I desire to make.
Be intentional. Don't let time pass you by. Don't let your babies grow up without sweet memories, don't let 20 years of marriage simply be full of monotonous routine, don't let your family fade away or your friendships disappear. Give yourself good things to think about and remember that a passed up opportunity doesn't always come back around.
#525 - For intentional moments to break routine and make sweet memories!
"And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." - Philippians 4:8
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