I am Running a Race.
It has Changed.
It is Different.
It is Better.
My son could barely walk home from school, could barely
stand, was in severe pain and white as a ghost.
I sent Jake with Grace and the baby to walk a street over carrying
popsicles to say thank you to my dear friend for taking on three of my kids
while I rush to make an emergency doctor appointment. Jude looked awful. The doctor pressed on his stomach and
immediately it appeared he had appendicitis.
Oh Lord please. Here we go. Sending text messages. Juggling plates and knives. Staying “mom calm”. Jude said he needed to go to the bathroom
before we head from the pediatrician to the hospital. And somewhere between the bathroom and the ER
waiting room, Jude starts to look better, and he begins to tell me he thinks he
really just had to poop. He said that he
really was feeling much better, and he jumped up and down to prove it, and then
danced, and then jumped some more. And I
know I should’ve been relieved. And I
know I should’ve been thankful, but my afternoon just got hijacked y’all. And three hours and plans to go buy
valentines with my kiddos are gone. And
I have just used all my mom magic to secure 900 people’s dinner, childcare and
a possible sleepover all via text messages for a kid who just really needed to
poop. I may or may not have said some
choice words in front of Paul, the ER nurse, who acted like he did not notice.
And then I’m reminding myself it’s all really ok.
Homework will get finished…or not.
And baths will happen…or not.
And someday we will laugh about this…or not.
My kids had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in their
lunch today with white bread y’all. I
didn’t even try to fake that…just bought the white bread. It was cheaper. They had a twinkie for dessert, and most
likely 90% of their lunch will kill them, but the lunches were made…and I had a
smile on my face the whole time. I may have
told my daughter to just knock out 1/3 of her homework last night, and we would
tackle the rest later. I may have
re-heated breakfast tacos for dinner, and made brownies at 9pm while three of
my four children were watching a TV show and let them eat an entire pan way
after bedtime because we were laughing and happy and whatever y’all…just plain
whatever. And I totally made us late
walking out the door today because I was talking to my baby and my oldest and
lost track of time and then couldn’t seem to hurry. I may have given up on all the things that
used to make ME feel so good about ME…because they don’t matter anymore. They never really did.
And the Best Mom Pageant is Over.
And I Can Cross My Fingers for Miss Congeniality.
And the Two Year Old is Wearing Footy Pajamas for an Outfit.
And I Pray More Now than I Ever Looked Pretty Before.
And Nothing is the Same.
And It’s OK.
It’s Really All OK.
We sat with Lucy last night at The Ballard House (a home for
people seeking life saving medical attention), who goes in for a 5 hour surgery
today. She is scared. She said so several times. And her husband, who drove 11 hours to be
with her, tells us the drive was worth it and he has big old man size tears in
his eyes. And I’m praying for Lucy…who I
just met because I don’t want her to die y’all because her husband loves her so
dang much. This Tuesday morning we had a
phone bank for Rescue Houston….and my house was filled with prayers and phone
calls in my kitchen and living room…there were voicemails and HOPE. We offered a help line number and a chance at
freedom…a chance to girls trafficked on the internet. And if we are not calling into some little
girl’s hell, and telling her someone actually knows she is there, well, then
who is calling? A small army of women
send sack lunches everyday to Generation One Academy…a school in the Third Ward
of Houston…50 lunches…5 days a week…filled with prayers and scripture. Little bellies are filled. Little people are not forgotten. We’ve asked people to donate new bras and
panties this month so girls who are rescued can throw away the underwear
touched and tainted by men stealing their innocence, and feel a little
better…maybe just a little…but it’s something y’all. It matters.
Stepping out of my living room and into someone’s living hell. It matters y’all. It’s the LOVE LETTER Jesus
keeps trying to send. And He’s trying
y’all.
“Dear children, let us not love
with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” 1John 3:18
And how can I go back to being the BEST homeroom mom, the
BEST carpool driver, the BEST and most organized at managing my everything (and
maybe yours too) when all that really matters is LOVE? This crazy Jesus LOVE telling us to dig deeper
and LOVE bigger and not just with words but with ACTIONS y’all. Real live living actions. How can I hurry and worry and push to be all
the things I used to care about when all that matters is whether prisoners are
freed, children eat, the sick are hugged and loved, pats on the backs are
given, random acts of kindness are daily, the LOVE of Jesus is free with no
price tag or judgment or only-if-you–follow-Him-too added to the goody bag…just
LOVE for Jesus’ own sake? Just big life
changing LOVE. Because people are dying
y’all. They are dying out there in this
world, and no words or speech are going to save them unless they are fed and
freed and not forgotten. And our lives,
no matter how ordinary or boring or busy or exhausting, are still meant to be
this LOVE Letter to the world. And that
LOVE Letter is written to me and you and our kiddos and our spouses and the
person bagging your groceries and the waitress who forgot your tea and the
homeless man selling newspapers and the front desk clerk who never smiles and
the bully and the beauty queen and the person who smells bad and the person who
talks even worse and the people who are nothing like you and the people who are
too much like me and the organized and disorganized and lonely and hurting and
healthy and healed and hopeful and hopeless because y’all here’s the deal…this
LOVE speaks louder than anything you have ever said. Anything.
So, I invite you, give up with me today. Give up on your BEST and your BRIGHTEST and
your MOST BEAUTIFUL you…and get dirty with me.
There is a rag tag army of Jesus Freaks forming and there is room for
you. We are determined to hand this LOVE
Letter to every living soul, and we are going to do it with food and water and
bras and school supplies and adoption and free dental work and running races
and phone calls and laughter and knowing your name…and their name…and doing
what Jesus came to do thousands of years ago….LOVE. And it’s changing the world.
LOVE BIG Y’all.
This is so beautiful. The little things that used to seem so big pale when confronted with the BIG thing, the only thing. LOVE. God bless you!
ReplyDeleteAnd they seem so small now...and LOVE is so big now...it could change the world...
DeleteAmen. lady!
ReplyDeleteLove walking this walk with you my friend!!!! Every second of it...
ReplyDelete