Boy Blessings

Last night may have been all about the girls; but this morning was just for the boys- one boy in particular at our house. Today Luke and I participated in the counterpart to the father-daughter dance: mother-son bowling. The girls may have sported updoos and swinging skirts last night, but my son and I boasted our own head-turning fashion in bowling lane thirteen–psychedelic bowling shoes that glowed neon beneath the cosmic lights

We didn’t need our own D.J. to bust a move at 8A.M. as we grooved to Toby Mac in the front seat of Rob’s Highlander. (I may not look sixteen anymore, but I felt AMAZINGLY cool behind the steering wheel of a vehicle that was NOT a MINIVAN!) We shared a booth at the local cafe and I watched my firstborn inhale a tall stack of strawberry covered pancakes. As Luke out-ate me bite for bite, I wondered when he had ceased to be my little boy and transformed into a handsome young man. Wasn’t it just yesterday that he stood proudly in front of his preschool class and announced his life dream: When I grow up, I’m going to marry my mom and work at McDonald’s! 

Now, that not-so-little boy dreams of playing for the NBA, prefers a juicy steak to a Big Mac and apologetically asks his mom not to show up for school lunch dates anymore. I wish I could harness the clock! I’m learning that motherhood’s great paradox is this: the days are long, but the years are short.

Just yesterday I thought I might die of drudgery as I chased my three-year-old across the yard in the longest game of imaginary football I’d ever played. And in a long-ago yesterday before that, I thought I might die of discouragement as I battled a strong willed toddler who daily brought me to my knees. Today, I mused how much I miss the feel of that strong-willed toddler’s soft body nestled on my lap. And as his big hands gripped the bowling ball with determination, I wondered when those fingers last wrapped around mine.

Time has a way of numbing us if we’re not careful.  It putters along monotonously between constant loads of laundry and never-ending rounds of Candyland. It stretches on eternally between the scream and tear-infested hours of five and nine each night. Then, when we’re not looking, it snatches up our little boys and turns them into little men.

I can neither tether time nor speed its passing, but I can echo King David’s wise prayer:  “Teach me to number my days. O Lord…”   And perhaps, if the Lord answers my borrowed prayer, I will spend my days making each minute count rather than counting each minute. 

Today’s Treasure: But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing!  Romans 13:11a, The Message