Slowing down...

A consistent theme in many of your letters was a gentle nudge to slow down, cherish moments, "veg out," get lost in a novel, play.... thank you; you know me!  These are difficult things for me, but they hold such life.

Claire has reached a point in her understanding, or perhaps just her vocabulary, to express her understanding of who God is, what she thinks about him, and what he thinks of her.  A few mornings ago, I laughed as she said in one continuous sentence: "Mommy you know that Jesus loves us the most, but sometimes birds fly in Costco, and that's silly."  Seemingly unrelated thoughts running together seamlessly in her sweet little brain.  I chuckled to myself, but later was struck by the beauty of the thing.  God's love for us should proceed every other thought we have.  After all, He is in all, and all things were made by Him and for Him.  For Claire, God's love is is often a side note, a prerequisite, an assumption to go along with and filter everything else she thinks or touches or experiences.  Isn't this exactly as it should be?  Oh, to have child-like faith!  To simply let God's love color and filter our words, our actions, our thoughts.

When Claire sees  something new or exceptionally beautiful, she says "Wow, mommy, did God make that too?"  What a joy to be reminded, and to proclaim "Why, yes, he sure did!  Isn't he creative?!  Isn't he awesome?!" and to hear her enthusiastic "Yeah!"

It is so natural for kids to slow down and take in moments....


It has been fun to deflect some of Claire's questions and woes to God as she begins to understand more, and to encourage her to communicate directly with him about the things we can't control - the weather, traffic jams, sickness, etc.  It is precious to see her process "Is God making it rain?  But I wanted to go outside!"  As she stomps her foot, and says "Why is God making it rain?" I think of all the things I am stomping my foot about, and I remind Claire and my own heart that God really does know best.

I was confessing to Mike a few days ago, that there will be quite a few "30th year challenges" that I will not complete by July 4.  You all know me well enough to know that my being ok with that is actually an enormous success!  God is working through your words and is drawing out the critical lessons for this year and I will carry other challenges into next year with great joy, as I continue to chip away at them.