St. John's

The morning was beautiful. After two days of rain and cold damp dreariness the sun was a welcome gift from God; which was quickly forgotten in the craziness of the morning. Emily was scheduled to work the last two nights at the hospital and this fact, along with my full schedule usually means a hectic, sometimes frantic pace to life. 

Well the morning did not let us down. Zane woke up at 7:02 AM on the dot, just like every morning and played with his toys while I got ready for the day. Emily got home around 8:00 starving after a long night at work. 
 
                With all the players in position, this is how the morning went down… Zane was hungry, needed to be changed and wasn’t really in the mood to sit still long enough to do either. Emily was tired, needed to be fed and get to bed so she had enough sleep for the coming night of work. I needed to get all of this done, get showered, dressed up, feed the dogs and get Zane to the child care by 10:00 AM so I wouldn’t miss my first appointment. Whew!!! Does this sound familiar?
 
                So I fried up some eggs (over medium) and waffles for Emily, got her set down with breakfast, while also changing Zane and getting him into the high chair, tarped down with a mondo bib, while his Eggo’s were toasting nicely and my own breakfast was frying on the stove top. By the time Zane was munching happily, Emily was almost done and I was just putting the finishing touches on my own eggs and spreading peanut butter on some toast. I sat down at the table and took a bite of toast, with Emily across from me and Zane to my right/Emily’s left, when all of a sudden Zane with all his two year old wisdom shot out his sticky, slimy hands, one in each of our direction and held them there in expectation. With a smile on his messy face he was telling us with his hands, “It’s time to pray.”
 
                My son was teaching me again. Not that we should pray more, because Zane doesn’t even know what prayer is yet. For him prayer is just a fun thing where at the end he gets to use one of his limited vocabulary words, and say zealously “Amen.” Besides we pray often as a family. No, what he was reminding me of was the importance of the time we spend as a family sitting at a table, sharing a meal. For Zane what makes him happy is to have us all there together. He loves it when we sit and eat and talk. He loves it when Emily and I make each other laugh and he will laugh along even if he has no idea what's so funny.   Even though he can’t talk yet, he stills throws out unintelligible sentences that match the tone and rhythm of our own conversation, regardless of whether they are good or bad. He just loves to be a part of his family.
 
                Zane had reminded us all the importance of making time for this. For just being together, with no distractions, no TV, no phone calls, no drama, no rushing to the next thing… but just being together as God intended, investing time in one another and living as a family. Emily and I are usually pretty good at this, but not this morning. Not until Zane reminded me again and I realized I can’t do this enough. Reflect upon your own life, your own family, your own circle of friends, your own congregation.  It’s true life is busy enough all on its own, but are you taking the time to invest in one another, to enjoy one another, to spend time with one another. Don’t feel guilty if you haven’t, just change it up. Make time. It’s never too late. 
 
In His Grip,
    P. Guy