Tonight I was reading with my son. He got my love of reading and we have been reading through chapter books together at nights all this year. We have read through the Chronicles of Narnia and have recently begun Tom Sawyer too. He picked up a copy of The Secret Garden and started it himself a few days ago. He and Ty have been reading it the past 2 nights and as he tells me about the story I couldn't quite remember it. Tonight was my turn to read and like always I loved that time! I get lost in the story and to share that with J is so fun. Curled up on his couch while he laid in bed above me, I found myself relating to Mary's description of hiding away in her secret garden. I used to do that in libraries back in the US. Sometimes I would go in and read when I had breaks from work and was between clients. I absolutely loved the anonymity of hiding away in a corner, reading and knowing that I was far away in a world all my own. We finished our chapter tonight and then I started to pray before he went to sleep. Suddenly I was hit with what a blessing it is that we have the privilege of knowing how to read. I found myself thanking God for that and for education and safety and warmth and food to eat all which help us learn by the blessing of the free education we get (well-I got and now J gets). This led me to pray for the missing girls who were taken from their education in Nigeria. Of course J started to ask questions and we talked about what happened. I also was telling him about all around the world where kids cannot go to school and what some of those reasons are. We spent time praying for those kids, for the girls somewhere in Nigeria or wherever they've been taken, and for the various organizations and churches helping educate people around the world. This comes after a dinner conversation about war in Kosovo and Serbia and the kids asking a ton of questions about "real live war" as E put it. Sometimes my kids are shocked by what is true in their lifetime. While I sometimes shake my head and wonder if we are a bit too open and real with our kids, I am glad we had these conversations tonight. While my heart aches for the girls who have been taken and their families behind, it made me acutely grateful for my own children and this precious time tonight. Even though we live in a much less dangerous world than many people around the globe, life is precious and each moment we don't know what is next to come. So tonight, for just a little while, even though I was in a bedroom in Belgium, I was really all alone with J and with Mary and with Dickon in a beautiful and overgrown little garden and no one else knew it. These are the moments that I treasure dearly and am so thankful that God blesses us with! And I go to sleep with a heart full of prayer for those who do not experience that tonight, for there are many and I know I am the exception. I cannot change that but I can pray and that's where I'm starting!
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AuthorsCarolyn & (sometimes) Ty Archives
March 2016
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