My Two Favorites (Songs, I Mean)

Life has been a little crazy recently.  Crazy in a mostly good, life-is-abundantly-full-but-how-much-longer-can-I-sustain-this-pace kind of way.

At times, I've felt like I was in a whirlwind.  Other times I thought I must be running a marathon, although struggling to do so at the speed of a sprint.  Sometimes I saw myself as a swimmer in the middle of the ocean, treading water until help arrives and getting SO exhausted in the process.  And other times, I've thought surely I was the proverbial frog in the pot of slowly-heating water.  When would I reach the point of jumping out?  And how could I jump out anyway?

Because I have my Kindle set up in the kitchen and use that to listen to music on Pandora, I rarely turn on the radio these days; and when I'm driving in the Big White Van with my kids, I don't routinely turn it on there either (it's hard enough for people a few rows back to hear the conversation in the front, so adding more noise to the environment doesn't make much sense).  But once in a while, someone--usually Moriah--will request music while we're riding along; and if there's no important discussion happening at the moment, I will say yes and turn on the radio.  

That happened twice recently, and the song that came on both of those times was this one...

I had never heard it before, but I liked it immediately, and my kids did, too.  They, particularly the older ones, are well aware that life has been especially full during the past couple of months; and the message of "just breathe" was, I believe, a welcome one for them as well as for me.  :)  (And who can resist the effect of the music suddenly calming and the piano playing alone about 49 seconds into it? Perfect effect!)  :)

After the second time I heard it while we were driving somewhere, I told myself that I really needed to look it up when we got home.  I did and have listened to it a number of times during the past week or so; and even when I'm not listening to it, I often find a phrase or two from it running through my mind along with a snippet of the melody.  It's a new favorite, for sure!

With all of the things going on, I continually feel like a juggler who, in the middle of a public performance, just dropped all the balls in the air.  To put it mildly, I am not getting to everything that I should be getting to!  I feel like every day I apologize to someone (or multiple someones) by saying something like, "I'm so sorry I didn't get back with you about that," or "I'm sorry I haven't done that yet; I'll try to do it soon!"  

I'm all in favor of apologizing, but I wish I didn't have to do it quite so often!!  My self-condemnation is a heavier burden than anything that anyone else is putting on me, and so, this next song speaks deeply to me...

I first heard of Andrew Peterson when he opened a concert by Michael Card that I attended with my friend Julie some years ago, so every time I hear this I think of her.  :)  And then the refrain "be kind to yourself" runs through my head, and I take a deep breath, ready to take on the next task--whether that be apologizing to someone or a job that's more fun.  :)

Well, there you have it: my two newest favorite songs.

And now, for no apparent reason, I'm going to toss in a couple of pictures from part of yesterday's whirlwind.  :)

At a roller skating party with some local homeschoolers yesterday afternoon, the oldest four boys circled the rink numerous times, and I never did get a picture of them.  But the youngest two were a little easier to capture (although I took the photos with my cellphone so the quality is fairly low).

This is what Moriah likes to do when we go to the skating rink.  :)

And Benjamin got to hang out with one of his favorite people, Miss Janie (who also appeared in this blog post from several months ago).  :)

And with that, today's whirlwind has stilled, and sleep beckons, and I'm reminded that I am SO THANKFUL that God created the cycle of day and night so that we would get a break.

Because even the strongest swimmer can't tread water forever.  ;-)