I'll take it and hold it close today

Seems like Tuesdays are blogdays. And rainy days. The cats are fighting in the kitchen, the kids were grumping out the door on the way to school at 7am (they should have left at 6.50) and small boy had a melt down over his lunch box. Which is not where it should be so it's his problem. "Mom, you never do anything for me!" while he was standing in front of a pile of school lunch which he did not make in clothes that he did not pay for and with hair I just helped him slick back into a man-do. "I don't want to eat that stuff!" Aha. Then start eating other stuff, like ham, cheese, tomato on bread, jam... the world could be your sandwich if you would just eat it!

It's funny how I/we have the same thoughts and opinions in an adult version. Light bulb moment. When actually there is stuff that I/we need to do ourselves to set ourselves up for success. Take small girl, for example. She would have actually eaten breakfast if she had not been reading while getting dressed (which reminds me, the cat is probably nose deep in her bowl of uneaten oats... uno momento...)

OK, saved.

Shew. "My-world" moments. Had a tough one last night. Netball is not our friend right now. More girls = less games = not in A or B team or sometimes any team. Ouch. Gr 1-3 was fun, Grade 4 has been discriminatory and unfriendly because matches are not really friendly matches any more. And more kids means less personal input. Small girl wanted to quit, was fine for not being chosen for any teams and is glad it's raining today so there might not be practice. My long-legged loves-to-be-included girl. How to keep the flame of enjoyment alive when disillusion sets in?

I think it all comes back to identity. Actually, that's what God has been quietly pointing out every time I surface, look around, look within. Knowing who you are so you are rooted.

And, as Danny Silk spoke about on Sunday (what a fab meeting to be in - such solid teaching even if his examples were not 100% scientific - er hm, Adam!), it's also about community. Being linked into a network of your people. Who love you for you. Who you love. Those 30m high redwoods have a root system that goes only 2m deep, but kilometres wide. Interlacing with the redwoods next to them, and over the next ridge, and more and more and more.

#LoveGodLovePeople and #BeLovedByGodBeLovedByPeople. They're so intertwined.

Had a Pete Greig moment on Sunday evening: "God speaks to us more about the who than He does about the what, why and when of life." Who we are in His eyes. How precious, special, loved. How much He delights in our loving Him back.

In all the rush-out-the-door today, small boy still gave me a kiss. It's a precious kiss because it was a grumpy kiss. But it was a kiss for me. In all the morass of mornings and sticking up hair and lost lunchboxes, it said "I love you." I'll take it and hold it close today.