Go Fly a Kite… seriously.

Yesterday, I flew a kite with my son for the first time.
This (super-fly) shark kite has been sitting in the closet for a year and a half because let’s be honest, when do we ever have time to fly a kite? Our weekdays are full of rushing to preschool and work. Trying to fit in workouts and meal prep on top of that. We have schedules packed tight and todo lists a mile long when we get to the office. Our weekends have errands and running around and let’s not forget social life calendars and church on Sundays. It makes me physically sick to think about the life just 13 days ago that I thought was a good way to live- and dare I call “normal“.
Yesterday, I took out the super-cool shark kite to entertain a 3-year old boy with enough energy to fuel a fighter jet. Friends, this time spent with my sweet boy was nothing short of extraordinary (check out the video on my Instagram feed). Time with him is always fun, but lately, it hasn’t been rushed. We haven’t had “life” to go hurry off to. The world is falling apart around us but I also can’t help but believe in some ways, it is falling together. Work has become more efficient by about 100-fold. The stressors that were built into our schedules are now non-existent because the way we do the work has changed. The quality of our interactions with friends and family has grown exponentially because we literally make time to just sit and talk over FaceTime. There is a peace and calm that is occurring because we are home, with our families, right where we belong. In the sickness of the world there is a healing and calm that is happening in our homes and hearts. We may not have thought things in our lives needed changing. Sometimes God shows up to let us know that’s exactly when you need it the most.
Friends, I don’t know about you, but now, there is so much in my life and our home that cannot remain unchanged. I read something this week that said “The biggest loss in the end is if we come out on the other side of this unchanged.” I felt that deep in a place in the gut of my soul. I can’t unsee the good that happens when we pour into our homes, our people, our communities, our world. I can’t unsee the ways in which this awful pandemic has begun to recenter lives. I can’t unsee the time we get with our spouses and children.
I cannot unsee the look on my sons face the moment his super-cool shark kite caught the wind and was lifted into the air. The white-knuckled grip of his hands on the handle. The excitement and the squeals as the kite’s streamers flew across the sky. I cannot unsee these moments.

It is my deepest prayer that we can find ways, after the #StayHomeStaySafe is lifted, to implement more of what truly matters into our lives for good.
#StayHome #StaySafe
