It’s late. Only 9pm. But so late. The night shift will soon begin and the day shift with bathtimes and teeth brushing battles has only just begun to wind down. I slink away for a bit to steal some quiet and maybe some few moments of sleep in between shifts.
But they find me.
They pad down the hallway, long shadows stretching around the corner into my room before deep breaths whisper into my ear, “Mama, can we lay by you?” Then they sandwich into the bed beside me and begin the losing battle against not speaking. One may as well try and hold back the tide. The day, their highs, lows and secret wishes come trickling out. First in whispers and then in bold declarations of how when they grow up they will be trash truck drivers, builders, policemen, game rangers, fathers, and heroes.
Their profiles against the hall light are brave and delicate at the same time.
I can feel the sand, gritty against my foot where it’s escaped socks and sandboxes, now taking up residence at the foot of my bed. Someone farts, someone else burps and my retreat is now a mini-locker room experience for my growing up boys-will-be-boys boys. I relive snapshots of the day from their perspective and discover how someone’s minuscule boo-boo looms large in their memory and how someone else likes to be the leader anytime we take a walk around the block.
Who would have thought boys giggled this much.
In the dark and the tired and the small, everydayness of these moments I feel it. The weight of glory. The glorious ordinary that is His gift to us.
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ~ Colossians 1: 15-17.
There is no part of my everyday, wash and repeat routine of kids and laundry and life and fights and worries and play dates and Kindergarten orientation and work and marriage and love and new life and bed time snuggle fests that Jesus doesn’t look deep into and say, “That is mine.”
In Him all things hold together.
All things.
Even and especially the two boys and the tired mom under that yellow comforter and African quilt on a Sunday night.
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Fan-TAS-tic. What a beautiful lens through which to read and understand these Scriptures. This is a gift. Thank you.
Having the Father’s Heart as your perspective makes all of it glorious! What a precious way to walk through life–truly Living it, not merely surviving it. May we see Glory everywhere. May we choose it always. May He bless you with rest. True restorative rest in the midst of your glorious living. :)
LOVE this…such a sweet post about life & HIM! :)
Thank you for puking me into your afternoon nap time and being reminded of the beauty that exists in the simplest days. My boys are much too old to snuggle with Momma, and the memories are all the sweeter. Lovely verse as well.
I have one little boy, and this post made me bawl. Beautifully written.
Wow. Just wow. I can’t wait to be a parent.
So precious Lisa-Jo. I pray that I keep that perspective when the tired rawness longs for solitude, but also knows I need to be there for my kids.
This makes me smile today. Today, at 11:00, when I’m still in my bathrobe and hoping to have time for a shower during naptime. Today, when I’m wondering what I can wear and pack to make a 4-hour long outdoor track meet my 12 year old’s in (on a cold, rainy day, with a two-year-old!) comfy and fun. Today, when a whole room is filled with boxes of yard sale items and my to-do list is a mile long…. Today, I appreciate the reminder that He is holding all this together, and this is all part of the precious work of God in my life. Thank you!
Girlfriend, I can’t even leave a comment half as beautiful as that post. Thank you!
incredible. thank you.
LOVE THIS!
I needed this today. How do you always do that? Post just what I need? :) Beauty in the His Body, I suppose. Thanks for being a vessel Lisa-Jo!
Sweet-sweet-sweet-sweet!
Delicious!
Okay, but girl, your patience puts most of us to shame. Seriously, when my boys tiptoe in we cuddle for like 45 seconds, and I put them right back to bed. Then again…I may very well be missing out on little late-night treats like you’ve described…
Thanks for inspiration!!
Love, love, love this today. It is beautiful and so much like I feel on a regular basis. Thank you for sharing.
I feel like it’s all about to fly apart right now, and that I’m barely holding it together. Thank you for the reminder that I’m not the one who is supposed to be holding it together.
beautiful. breath-taking. encouraging.
this post is all those things and more. thank you for the reminder that nothing in this life is ordinary, but EVERYTHING in life is extraordinary because of Him and His beautiful love.
thank you so much for this; it was EXACTLY what i needed today.