Just Be

I am ten days away from my due date.

And I just took a 3 1/2+ hour nap.

That's about all I feel like doing right now. . . napping . . . and devouring the delectable carmel apple I made at MOPS this morning.

It was delicious.

As a person who loves to be productive and hates "wasting" time, I am surprised at my desire to "just be".  There are quite a few piles and to-do's that are calling my name.  But I'm content with a nap and a carmel apple.

I was recently reading an article called "The Place of the Elder" in my Lutheran Women Today magazine (Oct. 2010).  Martha Sterne writes about an elderly man who had worked hard all his life and saw himself useless because he could not do anymore.  She says, "Nobody ever helped him see it is holy just to be."

It is holy just to be.

I hope this lesson sinks in for me way before my elderly years.  Especially as a mother of young kids . . . and almost a mother of a tiny newborn . . .

It is holy just to be.

It is a gift to be reminded that I don't have to be on hyper-productivity mode every minute of my life, as hard as that may be.

It is holy just to be.

To nap, to mess around on the piano, to take a long leisurely walk, to gaze at my sons and watch them live life, to sit outside and watch cars drive by, to dink around on the guitar, to check facebook, to paint my toes, to get lost in a book, to sit and nurse a tiny babe . . .

It is holy just to be.

I was first introduced to this concept at Camp Lutherhaven a couple years ago.  I was pregnant with my second baby boy and we had signed up to help with Resource Staff.  The hills were killing me; I was too tired to help clean; I couldn't belay; I felt useless.  A good friend and camp staff told me, "It's ok just to be.  You are an example for these kids -- just by being here and giving them an example of a healthy, loving family."

Her permission set me free.  (Though it was still hard . . .)  And this recent article reminded me of the blessing of just being.

Hopefully as the birth of my daughter gets closer and closer, I will remember this important blessing:

It is holy just to be.

And hopefully I can do it . . .

Just Be.