I Wonder--June 7

On a beautiful South Carolina morning such as this I can think of only one thing to say: "Lord I am tired." 

Shortly after 11:30pm last evening Jennifer gently woke me up with her voice just above a whisper--a frantic whisper. "What is that sound?" She asked. 

Peeling Flynn off my head because he wanted to play, I turned my head and listened. . . I didn't hear anything at first. 

Then after a moment the sound became distinct as the cobwebs cleared from my mind. There was a small, quick, tapping sound on the ceiling above the bed. A scurrying sound. Like nails clicking across the floorboards of the attic. . . Then a pause. . . Next we heard a rustling sound like a Walmart bag being shook around. 

We had a visitor--an uninvited visitor. 

Flynn is now wide awake and he has decided that it is time to grab his squirrel and squeak away on it since it is obviously time to play and not sleep. Luna does not even move a muscle; she gently sleeps on her bed. That little visitor in the attic isn't going to bother her. But the humans in the house, well, we have been startled awake and it will be very hard to go back to sleep. 

I will deal with 'our guest' later today. I didn't really want to lower the steps and try and attack our intruder late at night and stir the house up. I knew he or she wouldn't be that big of a problem for one night. 

But now. . . now I am very tired. Distracted. Wondering what was up there and wondering if it isn't a mouse, then how do I trap it? Wondering how I will clear my mind out and begin to focus on reading and studying God's word again?

And then I notice a new sound in my office. It has been present the entire time that I have been writing. . . I hear water running. I hear kids squealing in joy. I hear sounds of splashing and stomping in puddles. The Day Care kids are outside next to my office window having 'water time.' And they are loving it!  

In the blink of an eye my frustration and cloudy-mind floats away with each joyful screams of the children. Each shout makes me smile more and more and reminds me that even the challenges that keep us awake at night, the ones that interrupt our sleep, and hold us away from that same sleep, even those moments cannot compare with God's blessings--like the sound of happy children enjoying being together and playing. 

I wonder if today as you spend time with God, as you pray and read His word, I wonder how God might be offering you a way to re-focus, re-orient, your day back to practices of joy?