Please AND Thank You

O LORD who is never early and never late

Why do You sometimes make me wait

To receive what You've already decided to give? 

"So that thankfulness is the way you live."

I realized it in a single moment: these little people surrounding me had changed again. Reading lessons had morphed from a battle into a delight for one. Self control was beginning to chip away at the pattern of surrendering to tantrums for another. Mobility, speech and a very healthy appetite had washed away secret concerns for the youngest.

It didn't happen in an instant, but I realized it in an instant - that each of those things had been a specific prayer for a specific child. Thank you, Lord - You heard and answered!

The slow passage of time is a threat to giving thanks because we become forgetful. We forget that what is happening around us isn't arbitrary, it's an answer. God orchestrates both events and their timing, and He knows how He will answer my prayer from the moment it passes my lips -- even if I don't see the answer until much later.

I love the times that I pray and BOOM - God shifts something immediately! But more frequently there is a spiritual waiting room where I have to learn to just trust Him, and as I continue moving forward the answer to my prayer unfolds.  The ten lepers were healed - not immediately, but as they went.

When the prayer and the answer are disconnected by time we can be tempted to forget that God is behind the answer. We can forget to pause, return to Jesus and give thanks. We end up saying a lot of "please God"s, but not a lot of "thank you"s.

O LORD open my eyes to see that You are constantly responding - in times of waiting and in time of action.  No matter how far time stretches the link between my prayer and Your answer, help me remember to be like that one leper that returns praising You in a loud voice.

Little Gifts for the Lord

"Mommy, I have gifts for you!"

Every afternoon my son comes bounding out of room time with an armload -- paper airplanes he's folded, finished color-by-number pictures from a coloring book, drawings of dinosaurs and family portraits. He is beaming. Proud. Joyful.

Stegosaurus card

Home portrait

And a color-by-number he made for me to color (I happily obliged)

They are simple things. Just crayon on paper, mostly. Sometimes embellished with a paper clip swiped from the kitchen desk drawer. To any other adult, they'd seem inconsequential. But to me - to his mom - they are precious, priceless - because they are given from a heart of love.

As a mom of three little ones, my days are filled with simple things. I make oatmeal, serve oatmeal, and clean up oatmeal the baby threw on the floor.  I read stories, give snuggles and fold blankets - again. I zip coats, tie shoes and find mittens.  I buckle carseats, push strollers and babywear like a boss. I defuse temper trantrums (while trying not to have one myself) and sympathize with every single bump and bruise. I give big pushes on swings ("higher, Mommy!"), slide down playground slides and sing Ring Around the Rosie. Guys-- I do a lot of laundry. And even more dishes. I do . . . So. Many. Little. Things.

To many people, these things are inconsequential. She gave up three degrees and a six-figure salary to wipe noses and make PB&J (don't forget to cut off the crusts)?  She could have really made a career for herself.

But to God - to my Heavenly Father - they are precious, priceless gifts given from a heart of love. My gift to Him is to care for those He has entrusted to my care.

"Look, LORD! See what I've given you today?"

And I am beaming. Proud. Joyful.