Smiles

The true deep down, peaceful, contented smiles that come out of no where are truly the best gift! Smiles vary...there's the polite smile you give the checker at the grocery store, the bank teller; there are the proud smiles you give your kids when they show you their new dance they have been making up; the smile when they figure out something on their own; then their is the smile you give a friend when you visit after a long time apart, or the smile for family that shows you missed them and are so glad they are here. But the smile I am talking about is that deep down to the soul smile that comes for me when I am truly present, pushed aside and letting God do His work. When I am still enough and not trying to create scenarios, memories, or ideas of the way something should play out, basically when I am not trying to interfere with what's natural for my kids.

That deep down to the core smile in my heart happened this morning. Nothing fancy, no one's hair was done, everyone had picked out their own play clothes with paint smocks (old paint shirts) were thrown over from an early morning art session. I think Carter still had his onesie from his sleep on with shorts I had pulled out of the closest laundry basket so we could just head outside. But it was here that I found myself watching them, hearing them, learning from them and talking to God about so much that he is teaching me right now, this summer. I laughed when my friend Shawna mentioned to me that she thought this was the summer to grow up...partly because I agreed with her but I also was nervous.

These are also the moments where I manage to push myself aside. In my Bible Study this summer the reoccuring theme seemed to be "decreasing ourselves so that God may increase." So here is a moment for me to remember where the details didn't matter as much as the actual feelings and looks that shined brightly on my kids faces this particular moment!