Breathing Deep

Sometimes at the end of the day when I'm tucking the boys into bed, I'll ask them what their favorite part of the day was. They'll take a few seconds to think, and then their eyes will light up as they give their answer. I love hearing about their favorite part of the day, even if it's the exact same favorite part of the day before. I've worked with teenagers long enough to know that the time is rapidly approaching when they won't want to readily tell me about any part of their day, so it's something I try to treasure up in my heart.

If someone had asked me yesterday what my favorite part of the day was, I wouldn't have even had to think. By far the most outstanding part of my day was sitting with Little Man on the couch after his nap. Our airconditioner is broken, so during the day we have the windows open and several fans blowing, creating a very peaceful mixture of white noise and nature sounds. Nothing could have brought me more joy at that moment than sitting with him snuggled on my lap, taking in the peace and the stillness that was all around us.

We sat that way for at least fifteen minutes before either of us spoke a word. Oh how I wish there were more moments like that in our week! No whining or complaining, no tears, no punishments, no accidents....just peace - peace that was being shared together. At times it seems like nothing in my life feels greater than moments like those. To just hold him and feel him in my arms and smell his little boy smell and kiss him on the bridge of the nose... These are the memories I will carry with me forever!

But you know, the more I thought about how much I enjoyed that time with my son, the more I realized that God cherishes the same moments with us. How many times a day must He long for us to simply sit down, be quiet and snuggle up to Him?

I'm so thankful today for the God who knows me better than I know myself and who cherishes nothing more than time He gets to spend with me. I'm looking forward to the next moment I get to simply sit with Him and breathe in the peace that surrounds us.

As a matter of fact, I think I'm going to take one of those moments right now. Care to join us?