Monday, April 26, 2010

Secrets




"Sweetheart come here, what did He tell you today?"

In the morning my children trundle breakfast bowls into the dishwasher and race to the black couch. They pass Bibles from lap to lap until everyone has the one with their favorite pictures. When they read it's a jumble. Jack sings Zachaeus, Lulie shouts, "Dat bad," and pounds her favorite picture of Goliath. Jane shushes them both between stories. Sometimes they lull into quiet whispers.

Then they find secret places to pray.

Jack crawls under the wardrobe. Janie squeezes into a small shelf on a nightstand. Lulie toddles down the hallway.




Later they tell me about prayer.

"He told me when I think about something I wanna do that's bad not to do it," Jane says. "I said, 'Will you help me?' and He said, 'YES.'"

Jack squeezes my hand. "I said, 'Thank-you for dying for me SO MUCH,'" he whispers, "and He said, 'I love to die for you SO MUCH.'"

I find Lulie down the hall calling, "I love you, God. I love you, GOD."




And we call in the day with secrets of love.

I love you, God.


***


Thankfulness:

4. baby rolling in my belly

5. ribs numb, spread wide to encircle the child

6. husband who makes breakfast oatmeal

7. twenty minutes of bare feet before I pull on maternity support hose, again

8. maternity support hose

9. my doctor, the who came middle of the night to deliver Lulu

10. a still moment before children pad down the hallway into the morning



holy experience

14 comments:

  1. What sweet prayers :) I love children's prayers, they are so simple and honest.

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  2. What a sweet post! I love what your son said in his quiet time about thanking Jesus for dying for him so much and that His response was that He loved to die for him so much! Made me cry!

    Blessings-
    Gretchen

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  3. Oh I love this! Your mornings sound so peaceful and special.

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  4. A beautiful rhythm to teach your kids. And the rest of us learn along with them.

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  5. I am thankful for you. I told God and he said--you're welcome.

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  6. Definitely brings tears to my eyes! You are so good at capturing these special moments. Thanks for sharing them with all of us!

    PS - Hope your ribs are hanging in there....only one more week (hopefully)!! :)

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  7. so sweet. so so sweet. Your list is precious.

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  8. such articulation! such simple hearts for God, nothing complex about it - they just love God. COOL!

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  9. Oh, this makes me laugh so hard! We live parallel lives, I think :)
    How adorable! What amazing habits you are teaching.

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  10. Okay Bethany, I have had 4 letter names on my mind...
    Lola
    Ivey
    Hope
    Gwyn
    Sara
    Aria
    Anne
    Anna
    Kate
    Cora
    Edie
    Ruby
    Lily
    There are some lovely 4 letter names out there!

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  11. Oh, I love you all. Thanks for sharing the journey!

    And thanks Bon for more NAMES. :) Jury's still out...

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  12. Good job teaching your children to pray, to have their own secret place with God. You inspire me.

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  13. If you don't mind, I'd like to include a link to this post in a blog I'm writing. Would you mind?

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