A New, Simpler Season

As the leaves begin to change colors, maybe it's time to turn over a new one too...

Life has a way of finding us notorious for neglecting the need for margin in our lives. I know that has certainly been the case for my family. We aren’t unlike anyone else in that there rarely seems to be enough hours in the day to complete the to-do list that we’ve scribbled down on a post-it note. It’s important that I point out we love our life along with all of its chaos.

Simply put – I don’t want to miss any of it or take any of it for granted. So, after some late night, long conversations with Stephanie, we decided it was time to start simplifying some things in our life...

As the air begins to cool off here in the heart of Missouri and we will soon start to see leaves begin to change their colors and all of us here at 3CC will be looking for windows of time to climb up into a tree stand to chase white-tails, try to find a weekend to climb in a duck blind, or just enjoy the crisp, cool fall air with our families. Those windows are small though as the responsibilities of our daily callings will be pressing, crops are coming out of the fields, and family responsibilities accelerate as we tote our kids all over the place, and we all have careers and day jobs. With this season for our family especially, it has ushered in a new season of life, one that I wasn’t emotionally prepared for, but that has me making some shifts in the lenses from which I view the world.

My son Kaleb started high school this year. With his quiet entrance into high school came with all the stuff high school brings – football, basketball, baseball, band, student council, and all of the practices, games and meetings that they all bring. He has an incredible group of friends, and we want him to enjoy his time with them as much as he can.

My daughter Kayleigh is in middle school, and as she approaches her first year in the teens, it’s bringing all the stuff – those of you who are parents to middle school girls you know what that means. Cheerleading, boys no longer have cooties, friends, all the middle school drama, not to mention her responsibilities of caring for and working with her horse.

My wife Stephanie is an incredible special education teacher who is passionate about her work and exceptional at it. She is also an incredible mother, wife, sister-in-law, and pastor’s wife. As you can imagine, as she fulfills all those roles, she can run out of gas pretty quick sometimes.

About a month ago, I begin to feel a shifting in my mindset. Sitting on a mower one day, I came to realization that Kaleb will graduate in less than four years, and Kayleigh two years behind him. If there is anything I’ve learned in this life, that simply isn't much time left before my kids are faced with decisions of what’s next for them. Even more terrifying is that my opportunity to spend time with my kids and invest in them as we are now will soon shift exponentially.

Simply put – I don’t want to miss any of it or take any of it for granted. So, after some late night, long conversations with Stephanie, we decided it was time to start simplifying some things in our life. We began to look for ways to make room to enjoy our kids, our family, and this next season of life a little more. We begin to look for ways to get rid of things we didn’t need at the top of our priority list right now. For example, we just sold our flock of sheep after dabbling in the sheep business for a couple years. We are laying down new ground rules in our home as to how much time can be spent with a phone or tablet screens in our face. We are intentionally making it a priority to be as involved in the lives of our kids as possible. We refuse to miss their games, their band days, awards ceremonies, and other important events in their life. We have doubled down on making our faith in Jesus an even greater foundational component of our home life.

Simpler is better for us right now.

Stephanie and I have been reminded of how important it is to also make our marriage a priority. We are trying to do the work of honoring date night, carving out time once a quarter to get a way for the weekend. Even something as little as just taking ten minutes each night to check on one another and make sure things are good.

I know for some you are like, “brother, your life sounds anything BUT simple.” I guess to some extent you are probably right. But just like the fall brings a new season of cooler air, colorful leaves, and things we are passionate about like hunting seasons, harvest, and for our wives all things pumpkin, it has also brought to me and my family this year a new perspective. Simpler is better for us right now.