Life proves that what Poppy says is true!

Ali has started walking!!!! What a blessing. What a curse. No, just kidding. This little girl has gotten busy being all over the house. Randi and I will be with her one minute and she is gone the next. It might be the potty one minute and the trash the next. She really loves to go into her room and pull all of the clothes out of the drawers. She finds cords fascinating. She loves to the take the "old original Nintendo" cord and wrap it around her neck. Is that safe or what? She finds that mommy and daddy's belts are good toys and she love playing with ribbon. I don't know what it is with Ali, but she loves to wrap these things around her neck. Without getting too sidetracked, Ali has become a whirling dervish in our lives.

I think it is funny that I found myself saying, "I can't wait until Ali begins walking." What was I thinking? I had a captive audience. She thought I was as great as sliced bread and she could not get away from me. I did not have to worry that she would be wrapping cord around her neck or anything else that she could find. I guess I was just thinking that it would be better when she could do something more. I guess I was not living in the moment.

It is strange that we spend our lives dreaming about the future without appreciating the present. When I was sixteen and wanted a car, my Poppy would tell that not everything is as good as it seems. He would repeatedly tell me about his experience as a young man. He stated that he longed for a car as well. When he finally got one, it never worked properly. He always told me to live in the moment. Just because you get what you want, it does not mean that you really wanted what you got. I did not understand that until I bought my first $300 car. It was broke as much as it worked.

I still find myself missing the present. I am looking for the future. I find myself saying, "Things will be better when..." If I constantly look into the future the present will have become the past. I have been trying to pray this prayer lately. "God give me what I need, when I need it. Lord, I don't want more than I need, just what I need. Help me to appreciate what I have by what you have given me.

My Poppy has often been right. If I take the time to stop and listen to him, I can hear him say, "What you think you want may not be as big a blessing as you thought it would be." I want to appreciate the moment. I want to enjoy watching my little girl grow. I want to be patient and take what God gives me as I need it.