A Day with my Family

Today was our families annual gathering at my sister's in Ellensburg. Melody was able to make the trek over with me which was fun and we had a great time on our road trip! It is always a wonderful time with too much food and way too much hilarity! We are a crazy bunch but I love it. I was asking God yesterday what He wanted me to do at the reunion, how I could be of service to Him. I don't know why I always think this way but I do. It seems like I always need to see purpose in every day and event instead of just being able to let things happen. Anyway, I felt God tell me to listen. You see, I can sometimes hear without listening. I often just hear words without being able to decipher what is behind them. I would love to tell you that something wonderful and divine happened because I was paying attention today. The day was wonderful and full of great stories and what was different was that I found myself concentrating on each of my dear family members as they spoke. It made me feel closer to them and helped me to talk less (always a good thing!). I found myself praying for each of them on the way home and looking forward to the next time we will be together. I am blessed. God has given me a wonderful family to love and I need to pay attention and listen when I am around them. Too often I make life about me, either worrying about what others will think of me or thinking about what I will say. Today it was nice to not worry about any of that and just be together with them.