Dear Lord, Give me a heart so peaceful, I can look at this picture and not cringe. Help me not to see the wrinkles on my forehead, the fine lines around my eyes, the dark roots, desperate for some highlights. Let me look past the poor photography skills that make my kids’ heads look like they’re looming and bobbing around strangely. And since we’re talking about strange angles, does my nose really look this weird? Why does no one call me ski-slope? DO they call me ski slope?!
Instead, Lord, can You help me see the joy on these faces, at the silliness of bedtime selfies? All these kids. Wow. They have real teeth and fingernails and smiles and firecracker personalities–and we have grown them ALL, day by day, hour by hour. Who would have guessed? None of them died those nights when they barked with croup and we didn’t take them to the ER. They all survived the questionable dinners we’ve eaten. No one has scurvy. Or chicken pox. Or polio. These are not small things, God. Help me to see all that in this picture.
While You’re helping me look past the wrinkles, also help me see the tans we have from a day outside. A day of sunshine in February. Who could ask for more from life than warm Springish days, right in the middle of winter? Who could ask for more than kids who love to hear all the names of my dogs growing up, and who fight to sit next to me for bedtime prayers? What is better than this?
Who could worry about anything when You’re surprising us warm days, with straight teeth, sparkling eyes, and sunshine?
No one.
Amen.
