Joy A. Mead

Over the last few days my kids have been playing nonstop in the garden. In particular, they found a snail, who was quickly named Mr. Snail! He’s spent his last days curled in his shell on a frisbee with a few leaves. Each evening he’s been released but has been found in the same general area each morning.

The kids had been wanting to see Mr. Snail come out of his shell, but he hadn’t been enticed to make an appearance. One afternoon, I noticed that the snail was left in direct sun without any water, so I proceeded to sprinkle some water drops around him to see if that might help.

To our delight, Mr. Snail started coming out of his shell to appreciate the hydration. He was revived to slowly crawl off of the kids’ frisbee and back towards my plants. Throughout dinner we witnessed the snail move off of the frisbee and onto the pavement. Literally at a snail’s pace, he seemed determined to be back in the flower bed. Slow though it was, progress was being made.

Do you ever feel like Mr. Snail? Can things take a long time to get worked out in your life? Even good things God has spoken over our lives, can often take a whole lot longer to develop than what we would desire.

I, like most parents, desire some space to myself, remembering that I am a person with needs too. In fact I crave quiet time, having grown up as an only child with lots of space to be still and think.

God’s been speaking into my heart to write and share more, as well as connecting the dots of my identity in Christ that has been developed over the years. But right now, time to myself and my goals isn’t the main priority. The two “little beans” entrusted to Charlie and me take a greater priority and especially while the kids and I spend our days together at home for a while.

I want to look back in years to come, being amazed and humbled at the wonder of the young eyes watching my every move, observing how I do life and modelling my behaviour. Especially now, it is our opportunity as parents to be very intentional with our kids. Beyond the school work, crafting activities, and so forth, I hope we can all learn to prioritise what matters.

So setting our ideal timelines aside, let’s daily choose to love our kids unconditionally, forgive them quickly, demonstrate asking forgiveness ourselves when we mess up as parents, go on loving them more, and make time to be available!

I may be moving at a snail’s pace with my personal goals and desires, but God is guiding me. And I know His big picture plans will allow me to keep going, trusting that I am making progress however slow that might be.