Currently, we are in a season in our lives that could be temporary - or we could be here to stay for a long, long time. I'm very good at temporary. Moving has been my lot in life, growing up with my parents (I went to 10 schools by the time I graduated high school) and since getting married (we've lived in 6 homes). But living somewhere where staying is a possibility? Now that has been a hard thing for my mind to grasp. 

In this week's episode, I'm sharing a thriving thought that has come out of this struggle for me and also how it applies to motherhood.

We love where we live. We love the smaller home that is easy to clean, the updates and DIY projects we've done to customize the space, the huge garden we've put in the backyard, the rock climbing wall we just built, and the space our kids have to roam and play outside. But as we've made each of these changes and have more ideas for the future (front yard orchard and herb garden), I've often wondered if it is even a good idea to put our time, energy, and finances into something if we aren't staying here. 

After much prayer and discussion with God for years I got the new understanding that I was seeking:

Yes, embrace the current resources you have now to the fullest while you have them. Enjoy the spaces, the yard, the garden, the place to develop skills and do projects. Embrace the hours the children get to roam and create and build and picnic and imagine. Embrace all of it while you have it. And when things change, you don't need to replicate what you had here. You can embrace the new circumstances to the fullest and enjoy the differences.

Then I realized that we weren't just talking about houses.

We were also talking about my children and the seasons of motherhood. It is going so fast. My oldest is turning 11 and what felt like forever in those early years with 3 kids four and under is now moving at lightning speed.

But I don't need to focus on the inevitable changes coming. Instead, embrace the season we are in now. Invest in it fully with my time, focus, and energy. And when this season changes with the children continuing to get older, embrace that one too.

And this isn't meant to get us caught up in mom guilt and focus on the limitations we have or the things we can't do that would count as "embracing things to the fullest".

If you are in a hard season right now, it can look like just being present and sitting down and watching the same movie with your kids instead of scrolling or consuming your own content. Just BEING together counts.

In fact, each step along the five-step path from surviving to thriving will look different. This is why I'm creating the Surviving to Thriving Toolkit - to empower you to embrace where you are to the fullest with all the realities of motherhood and life coming at you. You can learn more at thrivinginmotherhoodpodcast.com/toolkit