completely in the moment

(originally posted 1/12/08)

In order to fully portray this week's lesson, I am going to have to open up and be a bit transparent. Lately, I have been dealing with a lot personally. Life has delivered a lot of "surprises" and along with those "surprises" have come tears, fear, stress and tons of self reflection and prayer. As I come through this time in my life and try my hardest to keep my faith I am beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Not all issues are resolved and some answers haven't come (and some answers that did come weren't the ones I wanted) but I am constantly reminding myself to "turn it over to the Lord" and doing my best to actually do that! While in the midst of this time in my life, I have been reminded of what the Lord says about children. All throughout the Bible the Lord encourages us, as Christians, to be like children...to worship like children with full abandon, to love like children unconditionally and, particular to my case, to trust like children without fear. As I was giving my boys a bath the other night, on a day that had been particularly hard for me, I was allowing doubt and fear to creep into my mind and cloud my thinking. I was struggling. As I watched my boys in the bath I noticed how they laughed out loud and danced and spun in circles. I watched them crack each other up simply by putting bubbles on their heads and how they yelled "Mom watch this!" at the top of their lungs. I couldn't help but smile. The Lord spoke to me in that moment and reminded me to "be like a child". As my boys took their bath they had no fear that I would walk out of the bathroom and never return, they had no fear that their wouldn't be a snack waiting for them after they got on their pajamas and they had total confidence that when they woke up the next morning mom would be there to make them breakfast. They were living completely in the moment and having fun doing it.

Lesson Learned? I re-learned at that very moment that the Lord, just as I want for my boys, wants me to live in the moment and not worry about next week, tomorrow or even this afternoon. He wants me to laugh and smile and dance and spin circles until I fall over. He wants me to crack up over the small things and know, just know, that in life's next moment He will be there to provide exactly what I need. I know, as a mother, that if my sons were constantly asking if they would eat today or worrying if they would have clothes to wear or milk to drink it would break my heart. I hope that they will always trust their mom and dad enough to provide for their needs. I believe God feels the exact same way about us. We are HIS children, I am HIS daughter, and He WANTS to take care of me. All I have to do is enjoy His love and rest knowing He is constantly working to take care of me.