The other day, my husband asked me where our son's toy car charger that I literally had JUST put away was…and I had no idea! I could not remember for the life of me because as I was putting it away, I was thinking about things I had to get done around the house. I am still going crazy trying to find where I put it!

I realized that I am addicted to my to-do lists. I NEVER thought I ever would be, but these days I realized, if I do not write it, it will NEVER happen! And nothing irritates me more than not accomplishing every single thing on it.

Can anyone relate?

Lately I have been so convicted of this. I often catch myself cleaning or organizing things all day long to check off items on my list (it gives such satisfaction doesn't it?) that a whole day goes by and I am not sure really what my kids and I did together. Of course, they are around the house with me, following me around as I get chores done, and we have some games and fun while squeezing in some school but how much time did we actually spend together, not hurriedly to check off a list?

I realized lately how important it is to be so intentional with our time. Life is busy and is full of surprises that can throw us off course. One thing that happens is we lose sight of WHY we are doing what we are doing. We get caught up in social media, elections, emails, cleaning and organizing when the kids are going to destroy it anyways. But life flies by faster than ever these days and when we look back, does it really matter how many to-do check marks we accomplished? Of course not!

It matters more how much fun we had with our kids, the messes that were created to foster learning, silly games around the house but most importantly to live.in.the.moment. So we can savor the smile our babies give us, so that when they say "look mommy, look, look!" we truly and genuinely LOOK, the whole time, without looking away or thinking of the next thing we need to do.

This week, I encourage us all to give ourselves grace. Yes, write those lists and then knock out the realllllllly important things that MUST get done. But if everything isn't checked off at the end of the day, it's okay. And when our sweet babes want us to look, we look with all of our hearts.

©️NewLeafInspiredLiving, Dr. Sherry Rosado, D.C.