A Golden Moment

     A sweet friend took this picture during a practice round for a golf tournament with our youngest son (the littlest guy in the red hat) and three of his good buddies.  Can't help it--just encapsulates all that is good about summer to me!  Four boys, varying ages, all having a big time together on a sweaty friday at a golf course.  The grass, the lake, the sun, the laughter, the strolling pace, the gift of friendship that sometimes needs no words... just a few putts and drives and chips to make life good.
     Somehow I see this, and it reminds me how fleeting this golden gift of childhood is for every family.  Our "baby" is growing up, and some days I wonder where all those hours flew--those hours reading Goodnight Moon and assembling fat wooden puzzles and splashing in mountains of bubbles in the bath and playing one more game of Candyland and kneading bright blue homemade play dough and pushing that swing impossibly higher and higher.  How could I know how precious each of those moments truly was?  And all the time, while I was trying desperately to appreciate each minute, trying to fully live in the gift of the present, all too frequently life became a busy blur of just trying to get through it.  Change the diaper,  make yet another peanut butter and jelly sandwich, clean up the kitchen, fold the laundry, pick up the toys, blow the bubbles,  read the books, get the water, fall into bed.  Then get up and do it all again.  The days truly did seem endless... yet the years were all too short.
     But today, this moment, was one of those times when life stills for just a moment, and God pushes aside your agenda and activities to remind you: "Stop!  See!  This is amazing!  Don't miss it!  Another blessing from your Lord who loves you extravagantly."   So simple, yet so profoundly wonderful--this good day, this good moment, this good gift.
     And tomorrow our second daughter turns 18!  Geez, I can actually remember when I was 18... just barely.  Thank You Lord for the gift of her life.  For her gifts, for her uniqueness, for her God-given personality, for her zest for life.  She has added so much to our family--so much sparkle, so much energy (occasionally not an energy we relished at the time!).  Sometimes challenging, sometimes encouraging, sometimes frustrating, sometimes joyously heartening, but always a cherished, unique, God-shaped gift to our family and to our world.  
     Every child--a uniquely precious, miraculous, one-of-a-kind gift.
     And another opportunity to stay on our knees!   Boy, do we need to stay on our knees.
     So thank You Lord, again.  Thank You for these treasures of five eternal souls in growing bodies that belong to our family.  That are our family.  And thank You for friends.  Friends that bring the colors of the rainbow into our lives.  Friends that lighten the loads and double the joys.
    Thank You for family and friends that amble along the fairways of life with us and love us even when we are in the rough or out of bounds or dug into the sand traps.
    And thank You Lord Jesus that You are the Friend that "sticks closer than a brother" to us (Prov.18:24). no matter where we are, what we are like, or how far away from home we have wandered.  Thank You for this good day and for walking with us, Lord.   To God be the glory.