Today I had a moment where I wished time would have just stopped. It was a moment where I almost pretended it was moving in slow motion. I found myself savoring the moment. Letting is soak in. Reflecting on the beauty of it. It was a moment that happens about 20 times a day. But every time that moment comes, I either rush through it like I am competing to win a race or I find myself frustrated over the moment. A precious moment I wont have forever.
That moment when my child asks for help…
My daughter loves to stand on a chair at the kitchen counter and watch me make dinner. It is the same routine at 4:30 PM every day. I tell her I am making dinner she says, “I get a chair!” Runs as fast as her little legs can go and starts trying to drag the kitchen chair that is 4 times the size of her over to where I am preparing dinner. Every time she struggles to move that big chair and she cries out, “I need help!”
There are many moments we are rushing around the house trying to get everyone ready to leave the house by a certain time and I send my daughter to go find herself a pare of socks. She finds the socks, whether they are matching or not and I instruct her to put the socks on so we can go. Sometimes she figures out how to do it, but sometimes she struggles a little and cries out, “I need help!”
Today was a very familiar moment. The moment where my little one stood at the bottom of the front porch stairs and said to me, “Mommy, I need help.” At this moment I always have my arms full with a heavy car seat, diaper bag, purse and any toys she decided to drag into the car when we left the house earlier that day. My response to her typically is, “You know how. Hold the railing and take it slow.” But today when she cried out for my help I turned around and saw her little face peeking out from her over sized winter hat. I saw her big blue eyes longing for her mommy’s help. I noticed how tiny she was. How so incredibly small she is compared to this great big world she lives in.
I set my stuff down on the porch and walked down the stairs to her. As I held my hand out I saw that tiny, precious little hand grab mine and she lifted her feet in her little brown boots and slowly took one step at a time as she climbed those stairs. We reached the top and she looked at me with a big grin and said, “I did it! Thank you Mommy!”
My heart was burning with love for her, but was also aching as I thought about those moments when I didn’t embrace that precious moment right in front of me. That moment where my child needed me. When she need my help and I didn’t give it to her.
Those times where she wanted a chair so she could watch me make dinner and I either told her, “No chair today, mommy is in a hurry” in fear that she would slow me down in getting dinner ready or I would show irritation as I grabbed the chair unwillingly and placed it next to me in the kitchen.
Those times where she couldn’t get her socks on her little feet and wanted help and I didn’t consider for one second how some things are still so new to her. How things that are so easy for me are not easy for her.
Those times where I have missed my opportunity to hold her tiny hand and help her up the stairs. I have missed so many of those moments.
My child wanted to hold my hand and trusted me to help her reach the top of those stairs safely.
How much longer will she need my help doing that?
How much longer until she can put her own socks on?
How much longer will she even want to stand on a chair and watch mommy make dinner?
All I know is that I am missing those moments because I am in such a hurry all the time. For what you might ask? Nothing that is more important than my child and making memories with her.
Step back. Take a deep breathe. Let it all soak in. Embrace it. Those moments where we are rushing through life so quickly all the time that we don’t take the time to stop and realize how precious they are. We don’t think about how they won’t last forever. We think that we always have tomorrow to make memories.
But who are we to be so sure of that?
Next time I hear “I need help”, my first response is to stop. Look at my beautiful daughter. Look at her big blue eyes staring back at me. Soak it all in and willingly help her.
I am going to grab that little hand every time it is offered to me and I am going to hold it so tight. I never want my daughter to doubt for one moment that I am always there when she needs me. No matter what. I am always there to hold her hand. She can trust me enough to ask me for her help.
I am her mommy forever, but she will not always be that little 2 year old saying, “Mommy. I need help!”
So what will I do next time she needs my help? I’ll offer it…
My Source Of Hope 