Skip to main content

I Can Only Imagine

On the drive to school this morning this song came on and I told the girls it reminded me of my Mee Maw, after whom Pumpkin was named. It wasn't that she particularly loved this song or ever sang it - those memories are saved exclusively for Patsy and Conway and the likes. Bug asked why this reminded me of her and I explained that it was because she was with Jesus and the song is about what someone would do if they saw Jesus.

So we started talking. Pumpkin quickly and reverently exclaimed that she would bow to Him. I have no doubt. I'm certain that if it were a couple thousand years ago, like Mary, Pumpkin would hang on every word and anoint His feet with the finest oil. They asked me and I said (with tears already welling up) that I would probably cry. Bug didn't miss a beat when she said excitedly, "I would hug Him and then we would go swimming in my pool."

From the mouths of babes. She didn't even consider NOT inviting Him to her home, to do her favorite activity. She didn't feel a bit of worthlessness. She didn't think that maybe she should plan something more elaborate. It didn't even cross her mind that He might have more important things to do than drive to Moss Bluff to go swimming with her. She knows her worth in His eyes; knows inherently and undoubtedly that He wants nothing more than to spend time with her where she is. If only I were so wise.

Of course, before He can meet me where I am first I need to be where I am. I need to be. That was a big lesson of our summer, but one that I can find myself losing a grip on as we get back into the busy-ness of our fall schedule.

See, this summer we did all the typical "summer time" things. I could write my back-to-school essay on a trip to church camp, visits with family, playing at the beach or swimming in the pool; but, honestly, the best thing we did all summer was recover from Pumpkin's tonsillectomy. Don't get me wrong - the surgery terrified me and I was a wreck every day leading up to it until it was over. Physically, she took it like a champ and recovered in record time.

But what was great about surgery was it made us slow down - literally forced us to hardly leave the house for two solid weeks. Two weeks of pajamas, movies, board games and rediscovering the simple joys of imagination. I realized that my kids don't need more activities and more experiences, they need more time - family time, play time, time to be bored and time to dream. It was amazing what all that time did for the girls and for our family. I realize how precious those two weeks and all of our time together is and continue to pray that as we get back into school, dance lessons, gymnastics, and friends, we keep coming back together as a family just to be.

And when we do, I pray we also always let Him in.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

These are the days we'll never forget.

 So many times I have started to come back here, yet for one reason (excuse) or another I haven't. The last time I was here in April 2020, the world had only just started to feel surreal. Fast forward 30-something months and it feels like we are just starting to improve. I guess I haven't felt inspired to write much because we were not living the best of days; yet still, as the song goes, they are the days we will never forget. Since we last met, a major hurricane ravaged our hometown in August 2020, leaving many literally homeless (including my parents). The girls and I lived communally with friends in Baton Rouge where they attended school until our electricity was restored. Our home was mostly spared. My parents lived with us for several months while they rebuilt. My work since that day has been almost exclusively on assisting homeowners with their claims. I brought to trial the first two hurricane cases in Calcasieu Parish and we won both.  Also since we were last here, Aly
Post a Comment
Read more

I Want You To Have It All

As those of you who follow me on IG know, I've thrown the idea(l) of a work-life balance out the proverbial window. Those scales will never balance and there will be days and weeks they tip one way before dropping back the other. There are times I am baking and carpooling like some modern day Donna Reed with a Best Mom coffee mug and other times where I feel like the Queen of the Courtroom, only to find out my kid didn't have lunch at school or forgot her ballet shoes. As an example, it is a known fact around my office that when I am in a big trial someone in my house is going to have a major illness  - literally these have ranged from pneumonia to emergency appendectomy. Talk about mom guilt - not only am I not there to love on them, I can't even really give them any mental energy until I am out of the courtroom. All of that is to say that life, an parenting, and lawyering are all like that - you win some, you lose some. Chasing some pipe dream of balance and harmony only
Post a Comment
Read more

Hello! The Phone is Ringing So I Say Hello!

I’m not sure what I expected, really. I guess I thought that when Pumpkin officially crossed the one year threshold into toddler-hood that things miraculously got easier. I had a little parenting-confidence and puffed my chest out just a little as I slowly toddled with her, grasping onto my index finger, to the doctor’s office for her one year appointment (see video for an idea of how slow slow is). I sat proudly in the “well baby” room (a place we haven’t spent much time) remembering the days I sat in that same room crying, looking frantically around for a spare diaper and praying they wouldn’t call her name before I could unhook her from her carseat (which took a long time back then) and changed her diaper. One year later here I was. We had come so far. I was proud of us and I looked at those new mothers with a little knowing pity. In all my one year of wisdom, I sat there glowing with the realization that the hard times were behind us. I didn’t have a “baby” anymore, I had a toddle
3 comments
Read more