A cool thing happened this week...

I've mentioned before that I'm part of a Moms in Touch group--moms who meet to pray for our kids and their school. It happens that for the second year now I lead this group.

I am a reluctant leader. I was not looking forward to making sure I was prepared for 9:00 on Monday morning. Yes, I have a resource notebook. Yes, I have my Bible. But no, on a Monday morning, I don't always have my act together. At all.

Here's what I love. I've discovered that I can bring pretty much any truth or Bible passage that I've encountered or studied since we last met, and it makes a beautiful springboard for prayer. I really can hardly go wrong, because when we open ourselves to him, God speaks.

I was thinking about that and about the blessing this role has been to me, and I decided to focus our session this week around that fact that God speaks. As we began our time of prayer requests, several people shared that after conferences last week, they needed some very specific wisdom about what direction to take with a particular child. One said, "We need to know whether to go this way or that way or what?"

Listen to this passage that I had planned to share:

"How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, 'This is the way, walk in it.'" Isaiah 30:19b-21

How great is that! Sometimes all the planning and structure and preparation and general "having my act together" in the world cannot begin to compare to simply listening when God speaks. May I be quick to listen, and when He speaks, may I also be quick to respond with my full attention and cooperation.

Today.

Today

when I least expected it

my kids somehow grew up

before my very eyes.

I thought I would try letting them

cut out their own pumpkin tops

(after I had drawn the line to follow)

and they just kept going

without looking back

to find out what to do next.

Ben even remembered to tell us that

you have to scoop it out good

just like Jesus cleans all the sin out of us.

Apparently they HAVE been watching and listening.

I never touched Ben's pumpkin.

He was all business

and not to be interrupted.

I did help Bethany just a tad,

(and it was a VERY small tad!)

but the plan was all hers.

Really, who knew that Ben could cut out letters like this...freehand?

Bethany carefully drew and executed her plan.

She cut out her whole cat

all by herself.

And when I was amazed

she gave me a giant hug.

She had also amazed herself.

I did not cry the day my baby went off to first grade.

I did not cry when they were baptized

or when they sang their first solos in children's choir.

But today, as they carved their own pumpkins

and talked about who they wanted to go trick-or-treating with

and did not mention their parents' names

I was tempted. Very tempted.

I took pictures instead.

Because they are still

just as delightful

as when they were really little.

I want to savor the growing up, too.