Advent Guide: You BelongSample

Savor Every Moment

A few months ago, I had a chance to take our 5-year-old (who at the time was still 4) to Dallas, just the two of us. Daddy was out of town at a conference, and we were having some much-needed Mommy-Daughter time.

One morning, we went to the Dallas Aquarium, and she had a blast. But she didn't know where I was taking her afterward. We parked by Klyde Warren Park and walked to where she believed she was going to play at a playground and eat food from a truck.

The first thing she saw was very big, very active water fountains that stopped her. Out of her mouth were the words, "Aw Mom, I wish I had brought my bathing suit to run through those!"

I smiled, reached into my purse, and pulled out a bathing suit I had tucked away. Her face lit up like Christmas morning – even bigger than the smile she wore walking through the aquarium just a few minutes before.

I sat watching her splash and dance and twirl and sing songs she was making up on the spot, and all I could think about was the simple joy she was experiencing with that water.

I sometimes forget that kind of joy – simple and pure – because I'm just not stopping and savoring moments like she does, like most children do.

In this season of busyness, may I encourage you to stop and savor – to let each sweet moment soak in. Stop thinking about the to-do lists, the gifts, and the back-to-back parties you have to attend. But stop as a child would to reflect on the joy of this season, the joy that only Christ is able to bring to the big, and little, things.

Nikki Martinez is midday radio hot & music director at KVNE in East Texas. She and her husband of 11 years, Nathan, live and work in Tyler, Texas, with their 5-year-old daughter Izzy, and their two dogs, Anna and Alice.