Ephipanies~Stones of Remembrance

Sometimes life is just living from epiphany to epiphany. It's what truly makes this journey worthwhile; these snapshots of revelation.



Though these hours here are full, concentrating on character issues and biblical instruction for these boys of ours, I  actually sometimes get these occasions, when I realize that I wouldn't take away or exchange any of the moments I've had with them. Though many days have been difficult, especially our first year, every once in awhile I choke, realizing one day it will all be silent,

       and they will be gone. 

In those mornings someday, like now, I imagine still not wanting to rise up from bed. I might still be curling up like a cocoon, still pulling the covers high up over my head. But I know that then, my eyes will be shut tight to hold back tears... and there will be an empty spot in the hollow of my chest, aching from the memories of the good ol' days. 

God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
               ~Psalm 46:5

That is why I stop and want to snapshot moments into my memory...

Like when youngest gets such a Lego bug in his head, that he talks morning till noon till night~ NON STOP~ about the wonders of Star Wars legos and how he can't wait till Christmas or his birthday, which ever comes first.

Like when... after I give a blow pop candy to my eldest, he gives it back to me two hours later...      
 

                          ingeniously decorated as a snowman.

Or when his garlic bread at dinner;

becomes a skull 

Like when I take my youngest into my arms and hold him close as he cries, soothing his broken heart because the stray dog he'd grown attached to is gone.  Or the way my eldest son prays before he goes to sleep at night. When he comes before God, he remembers and earnestly confesses all the wrong deeds from his day. They can be many; there are no short bedtime prayers in this house.


Even like the night time ritual of me, worn out, sitting in the hallway, waiting for the boys to go to sleep after I've been told... "I love you higher than heaven, and deeper than the deepest ocean, and wider than a desert, and prettier than a blooming flower, and...." until finally I say... "Enough already; go to sleep!" Whereupon I'm wished sweet dreams, gumdrop dreams, Gumby dreams, Gumby and Pokey dreams with sugar plums and candy canes and...

                                 you get the picture.

                            But more importantly...so do I.

S L O W D A N C E



Have you ever watched kids
on a merry-go-round
Or listened to the rain
slapping on the ground?


Ever followed a butterfly's erratic
flight
Or gazed at the sun into the fading
night?


You better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short
The music won't last


Do you run through each day on the
fly
When you ask "How are you?"
do you hear the reply?


When the day is done,
do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
running through your head?


You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short
The music won't last


Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow
And in your haste, not see his
sorrow?


Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
'Cause you never had time
to call and say "Hi"?


You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast
Time is short
The music won't last

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting
there.
When you worry and hurry through your
day,
It is like an unopened gift,
Thrown away...


Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.
      ~David L. Weatherford

Always Seeking Higher Ground,

Nora