Every once in a while I need a kick in the pants to remind me that what I may think is important is usually so far from the truth. This weekend was Paul's birthday (yay!) so we spent it up in Sioux Falls doing things he likes to do, and then we ended the day stopping at a place that sells trailers, because, well: Paul's top three favorite things include gloves, guns, and trailers. I think I might be fourth on the list? Actually, I'm probably behind tractors.

Anyways.

While we were driving around this trailer place, our last stop before the one-hour drive home, I convinced Paul to get out of the car and take this picture with me, because the snow was beautiful and it seemed a prime opportunity (plus I had to write my sappy Facebook post about Paul, per usual).

After writing said sappy post, I settled back and thought about all I needed to accomplish once we got home. The lists I was going to make, the people I had to email back, how much writing I needed to get done... Once we got home I started unpacking the car and putting stuff away. I went to take off my jewelry and my stomach nearly fell out my butt: I didn't have my wedding ring on. I immediately remembered I had taken it off right before said picture to put some lotion on, and I had set it on my lap.

After frantically searching the car, Paul and I turned right back around and drove the hour back to Sioux Falls.

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But my plans! My progress! My goals!

My. Not God's plans, not what Paul wanted to do, just about me. Selfish, right?

So here we were:

exactly two hours later. Frantically searching through the snow and pebbles for my ring. But you know what?

I'm so glad I lost my wedding ring

I can really only say that because we found it again, but Paul and I ended up having a really great night together. I didn't accomplish any of the self-proclaimed important things on the to-do list in my head, and the world didn't explode. Instead, we found a really great podcast that we continued listening to after we got home, which led us to opening up a puzzle and working on it until 11pm (way past my bedtime...) And it was so great. Had I not had this kick-in-my-pants reminder, I would have missed out on all of those wonderful memories, just to do things that so easily waited until today.

I want to encourage you today to stop and think about your priorities. Are you using your time for things that are going to make a difference in ten years, ten days, ten minutes? I understand that we all have obligations and the world won't stop because we want to do a puzzle, but something I'm working on is making sure I'm not steam-rolling past the moments where I could stop the world to do a puzzle. These memories and moments with my family are a treasure; I need to slow down and let them happen.