Be still

This morning in church our pastor preached on some verses from Psalm 46, the most familiar of which says, "Be still and know that I am God."  I have thought and prayed over and sang these words many times, but today it reminded me of the words of Moses when the Israelites were about to leave Egypt and cross the Red Sea.  They were understandably terrified when facing a great unknown but Moses says, "The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."

This afternoon I woke Baby P up from his nap, knowing that he usually takes a couple minutes to fully awaken when I wake him up.  I brought him out on our front porch to watch and listen and even feel a huge downpour that was covering our house.  He leaned against my chest, completely still, for several minutes.  This was a precious moment of peace, as normally during his waking hours he twirls and swirls around like a tornado.  As we sat there taking the storm in, I thought how grateful I was for his stillness, and then I remembered the sermon, and was grateful for our stillness.

Our little family is moving.  We are packing up our belongings and selling our house and going somewhere hours away to build a new life.  It's been a long time coming but now the time is finally here.  And of course real life doesn't stop.  So I have been feeling pretty much the opposite of still lately.  I have ten to fifteen minutes every morning before the boys wake up to pray, and I'm so grateful that those small times are sustaining me.  There is much work to be done and hours to go before I sleep but for today, I'm grateful that I could be still.   

Confused or something like that

This afternoon I finally got to the head of the line at the grocery store and the cashier said, very kindly, "You look confused."  Confused?  Sure, I was something like that.  After all, wouldn't you feel confused if your youngest child had just peed through his diaper onto the grocery store floor while you were waiting in the aforementioned line?  And if your older child had spent the entire shopping trip pushing the cart away whenever you turned your back?  And if your older child, who had gone to the bathroom before leaving home at your direction specifically so that you wouldn't have to make bathroom breaks, demanded to go to the bathroom at not just one but both of the grocery stores you went to?  (What is it with my kids and the bathroom today!)  And if you had a cold?  And were going on consecutive nights of less than six hours of sleep?  And if your youngest child had a cold too, meaning you brought him into service with you at church instead of the nursery?  And if said child then proceeded to give you a new hairdo while you struggled to make it through the last hymn?  And if you had lots of other thoughts swirling around in your mind that aren't ready to be discussed on the blog yet?!

Yes, I am sure I did look confused.  Or something like that.

But, as Pete the cat would say, "It's all good."  Church turned out good this morning, despite my tiredness, so thank you God.  Did you know that not-even-two-year-olds will pay attention in church, for just a tiny moment, if you ask them to make "praying hands" and point out that the pastor is doing it too?  I got to celebrate my sister-in-law's upcoming wedding surrounded by family and friends yesterday.  I am reading a good book.  I am giving myself a pass on school work tonight because I know that in my confused-or-something-like-that state it's not even worth trying to read.  My husband loves me and we have good things going on in our life.  And there's this.

The boy insisted on wearing his swimsuit after we came inside from playing in the baby pool, which Hubby T in his fashion genius paired with a Hawaiian shirt.  Yup, it's all good!