Sometimes They Surprise Me

I woke up at 8:30 this morning, and I was still tired. My husband only came home after 2 in the morning, filling in for some coworkers who didn’t show up, and although I didn’t wait up for him, my sleep was restless until he got home, and even afterward when our four-year-old clambered into bed with us in the middle of the night.

I stumbled into the kitchen to make chai and, once it was ready, I sat down in the living room to read for a few minutes while I drank my chai, hoping it would kick in soon and I would feel a little more awake.

My son asked me if he could use the computer, to work on his new hobby (more on that hobby coming soon in another post). My daughter sat a few feet away from him, at her keyboard and began to practice. I felt like pinching myself to see if I really had woken up. Usually, getting my daughter to practice her piano lessons faithfully is not the easiest task in the world. And here, my son is fully involved in his artwork, and my daughter in her music. Not bad for a summer morning, I thought to myself. It’s barely nine am.

Sometimes, when we least expect it, our kids surprise us. With signs that they are growing up, taking initiative, or assuming responsibilities. Even if moments like these are rare, if on most summer mornings I have to coax them awake and they do well if they’re in a vertical position sometime before 10, these times are worth it. Children are often capable of more than we give them credit for, more than we often expect of them. But as we consistently love them, expect more of them, and encourage them a thousand times every day, sometimes they’ll surprise us.

When did one of your kids last surprise you? What did they do? We’d love to hear about it in the comments below!

To Believe

This week, I started a blog on the theme of finding a purposed life.

This evening, while I was cooking dinner, I remembered a song that was shown during the writer’s conference I attended earlier this month. The song, “To Believe,” is sung by Jackie Evancho, a ten-year-old girl with the voice of an angel. When I first heard it, tears came to my eyes at the depth of the words … and of the girl who sang the song.

This evening, I showed it to my husband, and he called the kids in to watch it. Again, I was moved to tears. At the song, yes, and the singer. And also at the thought that such a young girl has found her purpose — stated in her prayer in the middle of the song:

Father, as you see, I’m just a child
And there’s so much to understand
But if Your Grace should surround me
Then I’ll do the best I can
I promise, I’ll do the very best I can

My prayer for my children is that they will make this the prayer of their hearts as well. And that they will believe … always believe, that their lives have a purpose, that their every prayer is heard, and that they are made in the loving image of God.

To Believe