Joy vignettes

She is Esther, the beautiful brave. She walks humbly, asks her brother, playing King, to raise His scepter. I smile. The stories are seeping in.

The day is gray and bitter cold, and we pack swimsuits steaming and shorts and tennies and head to the Y. They master the climbing wall, perfect their Tarzan yells on the zip line, swim until they are too heavy to float any longer. I smile. I've done a good thing. They've been happy for hours.

It's past bedtime. It's like herding cats. Suddenly they all re-appear after a long silence in their bedroom. Apparently they weren't sleeping, they were staging a Weird Pajama Contest. Rosy wins. They trundle off to bed, and their laughter trickles down the stairs and fills the space between you and I with warmth instead of emptiness. It's been a good day. What else can you say when most days don't end this way? 

Joy comes in spurts and fleeting moments. I turn my mind into sticky tape and cling to that joy. Let the tears wash down the slippery side. 

Here's to the moments that make up "good days".

A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. (Pr. 17:22)

Making a ladder out of counted gifts

Another year opens with snowflakes falling silent, racuous children in the small space of the van, wild hilarity opening white elephant gifts, gold wine sparkling in glasses, a shared bottle of champagne - moment of romance after the children fall asleep after midnight - the long kiss for the new year. This 2012 will find me continuing to count blessings as they fall as silent, stealthy from the hand of the Father.

1478: $180 Patagonia coat on my daughter, $3 at Saver's
1490: cat's eyes catching sun's gold
1495: hair growing in black and white, salt and pepper spiky
1501: sounds and smells of hockey
1504: gliding through pain to joy
1513: mama reading devotions to me on a depressed day
1519: sunshine and sunshine (vitamin D3) in a bottle
1522: animal cracker and nutella