Dear Elim Grace,

Let’s be honest: Do you feel like you’re losing time with your children or gaining precious moments with them?

The walk to church. The little moments and conversations. Ones that could easily be missed are some of our most precious moments and times with our kids.

Parents with young kids and babies, do your best to enjoy and seek out little moments with your family. Moments when you block outside distractions. Moments when you notice and admire who your kids are and are becoming. Moments when they get to see you as a human being, not only a robot checking off the boxes of life. Moments when in a little conversation you can show them they are some of your favorite human beings walking the earth. Moments when you can press pause on life, even if only for that brief moment.

I KNOW how hard life with littles can be. I know it’s hard to get kids ready for the day. I know it’s hard to feel human on some of those long sleepless days and nights. I know you lose a sense of who you were or wanted to be. I know you are making sacrifices and decisions for the best of your family, not only for you. I know there are days that are frustrating and sometimes downright discouraging.

BUT I also know this. You don’t want to reach the place in life where you regret how you handled yourself or how you spent your time with your little ones.

We often hear, “Enjoy these days, you’ll miss them when they get older.” I’ll say, “Enjoy these days, make them count as best as you can (and that doesn’t mean spend more money on them).” Seek to find the joy in these days with little ones. Otherwise, you’ll find the frustration and discouragement of these days will become the focus, and you’ll MISS the treasure of and in your kids. If that happens, on the other side of having littles (1) you may carry more regret than you can bear and (2) your relationship with your older kids may suffer.

If you want to have a healthy relationship with your older kids, seize precious moments with them as littles. If you want to enjoy the season of life that is raising your kids, be deliberate in finding something good in them. Focus on those good things. And draw more out of them. Try not to dismiss the negative, but rather address the negative WHILE seeing the good in your family.

You may be doing other things in life. Life is busy. But there is NOTHING more important, more rewarding, and more difficult than raising the family God has given you.

Let’s be honest: Do you feel like you’re losing time with your children or gaining precious moments with them? Seize the small moments for the value in the moments, not for the Instagram photo. (Jonathan had no idea I took the pictures below)

Alissa Evans