GIft #1089: Us

No, I have not disappeared from the face of the earth.  But I have been doing a fair bit of travelling and I’ll be off again on adventures this weekend.  The nights that I have spent at home have been busy and filled with creating (or trying to anyway!).  I have finished up several knitting projects and have been working on jewelry for the May Art Bead Scene Challenge.  But this past week, I was spending time with my brother’s family.  My parents and I went down to see everyone (it had been since Christmas) and on Mother’s day they had baby dedication at their church.   I got to play with my oldest nephew (who’ll be turning 4 soon) quite a bit – he loves to pretend and play with trains.  And he even remembered the game we played together over Christmas when we transformed the hammock into a pirate ship and set sail for hidden treasures!  And then a fair bit of time was spent cuddling and wrestling with their sheltie, whom I adore.  She’s such a sweet girl!  It was wonderful to be with them all again.  When we are there, my nephew likes to have each of us read him a bedtime story as part of his “goodnight routine”.  On the last night after we had finished reading books, he started his prayers with “Thank you God for us” and then listed our names.  My heart melted into a puddle.  What a sweet and profound thing to say!  Life gets awfully complicated and stressful sometimes, but a statement like that takes you right back to the heart of what’s important – the people we love that God has put in our lives.  I’m so very grateful to have a family that reflects the love of God where I feel welcomed and at home.  I know that not everyone has that gift in this broken world.  It is precious and worth fighting for.  Love is worth the sacrifices and the responsibilities, it’s worth the tears and struggle.  It’s worth renouncing “me” for “us”.  Sometimes I lose sight of that, but my nephew’s prayer of gratitude was a sweet illustration of the attitude of gratefulness I wish to have.

Thank you God, for Us.  Thank you for placing me in this family – for my parents, my brother and sister-in-law, my nephews, my grandparents… all of us.  Thank you for using my family to show me what your love is like.  May we always be close and full of love for each other and for You.

Blessings to you,

Sarah