A Time to Keep: Finding Joy in the Little Years

February seems to be dragging on forever around here, and I would be lying to say that we are not getting a severe case of cabin fever. I am so desperately waiting for the days when it’ll be warm and we can go outside and, as my son Hudson says, “lay in the grass.”

Oh, how long for that feeling and the smell of warm dirt in the spring, the sound of thunder rolling on a warm summer day, working in the garden with fresh seedlings and plants, harvesting a giant red tomato, all those things.

I have been majorly struggling the last couple of weeks with feeling a bit overwhelmed. I think it’s one, because we are all trapped in the house together, and there’s not much to do outside, but then also because of my personality. I’m predisposed to sometimes bite off more than I can chew. I get lots of plates spinning, and then inevitably they all end up falling and crashing all about me.

Baby in a pile of toys with a book called a time to keep

They Aren’t The Problem

What I hate most about this, is not necessarily the inevitable failure from biting off more than I can chew, and then gagging on the elephant I tried to shove down my throat. But then my kids end up catching the fallout from it.

When I’m irritated because I can’t do everything that I’ve set out to do, they are the ones that catch it. They’re the ones that get my bad attitude. They’re the ones that get me yelled at because I’ve lost my temper. They’re the ones who see me melting down over something that’s honestly not that big of a deal. (Oh the irony, that is the very thing that I get onto them for doing.)

All of this has made me stop and reevaluate some things. When I get so preoccupied and busy with all these other things that I’m working on, whether it’s projects, events, distracted by social media, business endeavors, you name it! It causes me to pause and say to myself what is the real priority here?

Little girl looking at a book called a time to keep

Think God’s Trying To Tell Me Something?…

This morning we were sitting around the woodstove as the sun was peaking through the windows, and my daughter was lying on the floor looking at Tasha Tutor’s book titled “A Time to Keep”. I’ve always thought that was such a lovely title and thought. A time to keep, what does that mean?

Well, then, oh the irony, I’m reading through Ecclesiastes, and what does Solomon say? He says there is “a time to keep”. I think the Lords may be trying to tell me something ha!

“A time to gain, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw away;”

‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭3‬:‭6‬

little girl laying in front of a wood stove

What Does It Mean “To Keep”

It made me stop to think, what does it mean to have a time to keep? You know, your first thought would go to a time to keep, as in you don’t want to lose it. And I could see that, I could see saying you don’t want to lose this time with your children you want to keep it. You want to keep them little forever.

But that’s not really what this passage is talking about. The actual Greek meaning of this word “keep” in the section of scripture is

shâmar

shaw-mar’

A primitive root; properly to hedge about (as with thorns), that is, guard; generally to protect, attend to, etc.: – beware, be circumspect, take heed (to self), keep (-er, self), mark, look narrowly, observe, preserve, regard, reserve, save (self), sure, (that lay) wait (for), watch (-man).

When I think about keeping something, I think about tending it, nurturing it. Think about keeping a garden. Or even something, a little more familiar, being a keeper of the home. It means you manage something and you manage it well.

sourdough croissants rising next to the woodstove

To Everything There is a Season

All of these other things that I’m working on will pass away, they are not eternal. Projects, events, social media, whatever, you name it! All of this will pass away. But my children will only be little for so long, I only have them in my house for a short amount of time, this time that the Lord has given to me with them is the time that I need to “keep”. I need to attend it well. I need to love them, pour into them, practice self-control, and model it for them. Be a good example to them of what a Christ-like woman should be.

Does that mean I don’t ever do anything else other than manage my kids, well no of course not! But what I’m trying to say is to keep your priorities in check. If social media is becoming a distraction for you and it is causing you to be irritated with your children, maybe set some boundaries in place. Only allow yourself to look at social media in the evenings when your children have gone to bed, or during nap time.

Adjust Your Prioritizes

If projects that you have that you’re working on, whether it be work or other things that are causing you to be cranky and snappy when your kids want you to read them a book, maybe take some time and reevaluate your priorities.

Again, not saying that any of these things are bad, but this right now is a time that we have to keep. It won’t be here for long and to everything there is a season. Maybe now just isn’t the season?

“To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted;”

‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭3‬:‭1‬-‭2‬

Cherish The Little Years

So on these long February days, when we’re all getting a little stir-crazy with being stuck in the house, I want to encourage you to enjoy the time that the Lord has given you to “keep”. Love it, and cherish it, because this time will not last. One day you’ll wake up and you’ll have a new time to keep, and it won’t involve little children running about your house. Jelly messes to clean up, spilled milk, story books, and toys strewn all about your house.

Cherish the little years, because they will not last. What a blessed time to keep.