I’m home again.
I’ve been reminded that the most peaceful, glorious place to be is with a baby and/or toddler asleep in your arms. The world is right; the universe is right; God is present. It creates the sense of resting in God – or perhaps God resting with you.
I have a new granddaughter! Ella was born about 1 am Saturday morning. That was joyful news to cap off a week of good news.
New babies are so totally unaware of the hope and joy they bear. They just exist, right there in the moment. A new little one, in this strange world of light and sound and touch, is just present. Free from knowing of the expectations that family, friends and the world will try to put on them. Free to be dependent on Mama. Open to being loved.
I’m looking forward to meeting baby Ella. I’m looking forward to spending a week helping out and spending time with her sister, Lily (not quite 2 years old). These new little lives, full of wonder, help me to remember to be full of wonder. They are a very real reminder that we must be as little children to enter the kingdom of God. And they example of how to do it.
Makes me want to shout “Alleluia!”
My youngest child graduates from college this afternoon. He’ll be moving on to another city, probably on Sunday. The last chick to leave the nest – well, he’s not lived under our roof for several years, but he’s been right here in town. Change.
My oldest child is within the 2 week window of expecting his second child. They live 8 hours away, so I don’t see them nearly as much as I would like. And although their lives changed a lot in one year with a wedding and baby and a new job in a new town, it’s about to change again.
And in the middle, my daughter and her husband are in the process of moving. They both have jobs in the new location, but they still have a house to sell (Anyone looking to buy in Northport AL?), so they split their time between locations. He’s been at his new job for several months, she for about two weeks. Constant change.
And so, it was nice to sit last night, with the graduate and his girlfriend, the daughter and son-in-law, JP and myself (and the 4 dogs that are associated with all these folks) and listen to the conversation. To eat hamburgers and beer. To watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympic games. It was so nice to hear the banter between these “children” (who are old enough to have children of their own) share and argue a bit and just be together.
It seems maybe we did something right over the past 30 years… but, really – maybe we are just blessed through no fault of our own.
I love my deck. When we rebuilt the house after a fire 8 years ago, we changed a window in our bedroom into a door to the backyard and added the deck. It’s a good size – 20×20 or so, with benches on two sides, and a sort of table in the corner where St. Francis lives. The trees, a maple, an oak, a pine and some crepe myrtles offer shade as they creep into the space around the edges. In the mornings, especially this time of year, it’s not exactly a quiet peace due to the sounds of birds that inhabit the various trees in our yard and the neighbors. But, it’s a deeply peaceful place.
How lucky I am to have this space to step into. I seem to be the only person who really uses it. I can sit on the bench and listen to creation all around me. I can see the day lilies, the gardenias, the azaleas, the iris and the camelias which all bloom at slightly different times.
My friend John might refer to this spot as my “flee to.” Yeah… everybody needs a “flee to.” A place to go and just get away. A place that calls one to prayer. A place that shouts “Welcome! You belong here!”
I love my deck.
I was poking around on Susan’s blog rereading her post on an attitude of gratitude – or being grateful for the little things. I’ve tried to cultivate that attitude. And in the past few days I’ve been grateful for some “little things” that aren’t so little. These are the phone calls to check with me about how I’m doing with something that has caused me anxiety. Just quick chats to let me know that somebody cares, that someone is praying, that someone just wants to let me know that they are there.
These things might seem like small things. But when I acknowledge them, and give thanks for them, they grow and they make a change in me. It’s kind of funny – it’s not just the gift, it’s the receiving as well.
Hmmm… now to go out and practice being grateful.