My living room was clean this morning. The first picture looks so serene and sweet until you pan out to the second picture-eek! There are several gratitude stories within these pictures, so let me just start with one of my first thoughts of the day. We woke up late-Jay is still on African time, the kids had late nights at Gram's house this weekend and I caved and took a benadryl around one a.m. due to the fact that I couldn't breathe with my allergies. I don't enjoy late Mondays. It throws off my whole week and makes me feel behind until next Monday. (Yes, I'm prone to the dramatic) Instead of screaming everyone out of bed, I took a few moments for prayer coverage over our day and gently woke everyone from the death sleep. I remember thinking, "At least the house is clean." On my way up to school, I noticed a very small smudge on my nice clean mirror in the living room. Upon further inspection, I noticed it was a purposeful smudge with the very distinct shape of "A B." Hmmm....wonder who that could be? For a moment I thought, why would she smudge up a perfectly clean mirror? Then the Spirit whispered, "Isn't that a beautiful smudge on your life made by the amazing fingers of the one I gave to you?" Likewise to the mess of Legos scattered across the room (have you every stepped on one of those little suckers???), the paint stains and scratches on the dining room table, the leftover marks on the living room wall from a very zealous wiki-stick artist, and the list goes on and on. It seems I clean those clothes that are piled high in the background every few days, I wash the same dishes over and over and wipe up the same messes. It's ground-hog day of Merry Maids around here, except that I'm the only maid and frankly, I'm not always merry. So look beyond the mess to those that messed it up. The little hands and bodies that create, destroy, need, and smudge the house beyond recognition. What a gift! There are several in my life right now that I love and care for who cry out every day for our Savior to bless them with a little one to mess up their own homes. They would weep with joy to change a diaper, launder some pajamas, and wake to cries during the night. Lord, please give me spiritual vision to see as you see-a messy house of absolute blessing! And there is one underlying story to these pictures in closing. I often tease my oldest daughter that she is 65 and the most mature of our household. She is quite and fairly withdrawn and doesn't necessarily attract friends very easily. Throughout our almost five years in Shawnee, I have times when I feel overwhelmed with a desire for her to have a friend or two that love her and choose to spend their time with her. I was battling these thoughts once again yesterday in church. I fret and want to manipulate some sort of social life for her and, in doing so, I completely disregard the work God is doing in her life. I have this homeschool fear that the only friends she'll ever have are her siblings. But really, is that such a terrible thing? Just the other day she told me how she had a long talk with one of the girls that she babysits about how to pray for loving her siblings. And if you'll notice, she's bent over creating legos with her little brother because he was lonely and wanted someone to play with today. She set her ipod and cell phone down and spent an hour entering his world of all things lego. I almost blush with shame that my heart can fret over her lack of a social life when the Lord is pouring His Spirit all over her most-precious spiritual life. Please show me my children as you see them Lord and convict me to hold them close, pray over them daily and trust You with Your amazing work in their little lives.
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