Lincoln Logs?

I'm defiinitely a Type A personality. I never really wanted to be a Type A kind of person, but sometimes there is just no denying it. Not that there is anything wrong with us Type As. Just that, for some reason, I had a hard time accepting that that was me, you know, the driven, task-focused, controlling, high strung, stressed out kind of person instead of the cool, laid back, easy going person that I always tried to present to the rest of the world?

So, lately I've been trying to calm down and accept myself and learn to actually make my personality WORK for me so that I can live a life of joy and peace and contentment. It is a real struggle every day to not be stressed out and so focused on doing what I think I "need" to be doing. For example, this morning it was really hard for me to get going even after my morning run. I drank a few cups of coffee and lingered around on facebook and handled a few small projects. After I woke up enough to actually focus on the tasks for the day, I decided that today would be the day to clean and organize the basement toy room, de-clutter, etc. I carried the tubs I'd recently purchased for the task downstairs, got my marker and the masking tape, got all the kids downstairs playing so I could work on this monumental task.

About five minutes into it, Jack started asking me to build him a house with the Lincoln Logs. I have was hesitant at first because the basement is a mess and it was going to be a real chore that I really wanted to tackle and to stop when I'd just started working on it was very difficult for me. I guess I just need to feel like I can relax at the end of the day by knowing that I've accomplished something.

Along with this "calming down" that I've been working on I've been learning during my devotions about mothering intentionally and really seeing my children for who they are and loving them where they are in their lives. When he started asking me to build his house, it was like the Lord spoke to me and said, "Cynthia, which is more important? Cleaning the basement or your children? You chose to be a stay-at-home mom to take care and be with your children, not to clean the basement." That really hit home for me because that is part of intentionally mothering our children. Giving up my plans to meet his need at the time which was for some special fun with Mommy. When I was able to step back and realize what my true purpose for my time at home is it became a joy to let the organizing go for a bit and focus on my son who is a continual delight to my heart.

I don't wish to change my personality type, but I desperately want to reign it in and really start relaxing and enjoying my life and my children while they are young. The cleaning and organizing sometimes just needs to wait! For what I "need" to be doing is being there for my kids and helping them to realize that they are more important to me than working so hard to complete a task. What really made the decision to stop and play with him even more of a blessing was later when he randomly came up to and said, "I love you, Mom!" Melted my heart!