Struggling Well With Life

Our house was up extremely early this morning, as the school routine hit hard after a long fun summer. The shower and blow dryers were running at 5:30am. It still seems odd to send your kids off to school in the dark.  Standing there at the door, still in my pajamas with a hot cup of coffee in hand, and watching the girls, young women, head up the driveway loaded down with a fifty pound backpack takes me back to their first day of school. It’s just like the country song warns us - “Don’t Blink”. I was watching the Father of the Bride II the other day and when Steve Martin looked that doctor in the eye who was taking care of his women, he said something like “those women are my life”, and the sap in me boohooed like a little girl. I am struggling today, struggling to trust God with their day, with their lives, with their hearts today. Here is the truth I cling to today - He loves them even more than I do, and He who has begun a great work in them will complete it. 

I am sabatisized.  Off for seven weeks over the summer, and ready to jump back in with both feet.  Though, I spent time this summer lingering in my relationships; with God, my sweet wife, and those wonderfully dramatic teenage girls in my world.  It was a great reminder to me to “be in the moment”, and not be rushed to get the next thing done.  I remember when the girls were tiny, and after their nightly baths, dressed in those little PJs, smelling like shampoo and powder, and after they were read to, prayed with - if you sat there till they fell out of consciousness - often those were the moments when the thoughts and questions would emerge that gave insight into their hearts.  I am so grateful to have lingered a bit this summer, to have been given fresh insights into those whom I love dearly.  Somehow I hope to jump back in with both feet, and linger.