Loving My Actual Life: An Experiment in Relishing What’s Right in Front of Me
By Alexandra Kuykendall
This right here. This is my actual life. It is busy. It is messy. It is chaotic most times.
It is not perfect. But it is MY actual life.
“Each of you must examine your own actions. Then you can be proud of your own accomplishments without comparing yourself to others.”
~Galatians 6:4~
I am a work-at-home, homeschooling, every kid in sports and activities, 2 kids with autism with another 1 on the maybe side, trying-to-hold-it-together-sometimes kind of mom. My life is often quite challenging.
I know life is challenging for everyone and everybody’s story is THEIR story. However, God has thrown some gigantic, demanding wrenches into my story.
Recently, after some of my posts on Facebook and many weeks of showing up looking quite frazzled, a friend of mine recommended this book to me. I will be forever grateful to her for that recommendation. Just from the title alone Loving My Actual Life: An Experiment in Relishing What’s Right in Front of Me
I have struggled many days loving the life that God has granted me. My life has been filled with battles, dark days, and questions as to why God allowed me down this particular path. I found it difficult to truly love my actual life.
If He had pulled me from the wreckage of all that rubble, then WHY had He not put me on a path to do exceptional things with that mess? WHY wasn’t I living in abundance, full of overwhelming joy and happiness; much like I continued to observe from those around me?
Enter this book. In a time when my life was feeling low, when I felt like the endless chaos was at its highest point, when I was feeling utterly lost, completely broken and profoundly insignificant.
This book has taught me much; tangible things that I can DO as well as a change in my perspective about my actual life.
What if our big is found in the small? What if we do each small thing with great passion because we can? Because we are here and we are able to and yet do it with the knowledge we can’t change the world in a day. But we can leave our small, unique imprint on it. ~Alex Kuyukendall
Alex helped me realize that my actual life is not about this giant, amazing big work of art. My actual life, in this moment, is about my husband, my children, my family, my friends, those dirty dishes, those piles of laundry, those endless trips back and forth between sports and activities, feeding the dog, wiping down counters, putting toys away, and cooking meals. Those things create my giant, amazing big work of art.
THAT, is where I need to be, right now, Loving My Actual Life.
One life. Portioned into segments. Years. Months. Weeks. Days. Hours. Minutes. Seconds.
One life. God has granted for now. It is temporary. It is now. And if I’m not careful I might miss it.
One life unique to me. Not like anyone else’s, nor should it be, and yet I’m always longing for that next thing.
One life I want to cherish. I want to hold close and appreciate. To not waste. To not take for granted.
~Alexandra Kuykendall~
I highly recommend this book. It will change your perspective, it will impact the monotony of your days, and it will guide you in learning to love YOUR actual life.
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