What does the baby season of motherhood teach us? Gosh, what DOESN’T it teach us? Oh, the list could be endless.
We just got back from a weekend down in South Alabama where we are from. We were visiting family for the weekend and we always like to take a quick trip over to the beach. It is my favorite place to be in this world. I love everything about it. Well almost everything. I have a deep sense of healthy respect and fear for the water which makes me a bit on edge when my children are swimming. But everything else about the beach is pure bliss to my soul. This particular trip was just perfect. The gulf waters were near 80 degrees. The clearest blue water. No jellyfish. I had just checked the weather for the upcoming week and knew it was about to feel like winter fast. And so for these few moments on my favorite beach I just simply sucked the life out of each second. I literally sat there taking obnoxiously deep breaths in. I relished in every aspect of what I was experiencing taking special attention to the way my skin felt under the warmth from the sun. The way the sand felt under my feet. The way my children were so happy splashing in the waves so carefree. The sound of the sea gulls overhead. The look on peoples faces around me. Everyone probably doing the same thing I was. Soaking in the last blessed little drops of summer.
And this is a perfect picture of what baby season is like. I know from having a fourteen year old how fast it goes. I look down at my baby boy and I know what is just up ahead. And so I suck in every moment. I breathe him in…not really sure how I can make it last or make myself feel it any more than I already do. It leaves the same sort of dissatisfaction because we cant stop time for waves and warm sun any more than we can stop it for a chubby baby with eyes that exude a perfect love for his mommy. We cant stop time but we can give thanks. In those moments when I feel so finite and so unable to truly capture a moment…I always just end up offering my praise and thanks to the one who gives all good gifts to me.
When you are overwhelmed with how beautiful a moment is and you feel that pang in your heart because the moment is so bittersweet…when you are completely in awe of His mercy in your life…Just thank him! Thanksgiving is how we enter His gates. Praise is how we enter His courts.