This weekend our three boys were helping put tin on the barn. In a quick moment I looked out of our upstairs window and saw one son up on the scaffolding with Arik holding the tin and drilling it into the barn's side, but as I took another look, I realized it wasn't Arik, it was one of the boys. Katie jumped up, trying to see out of the window, and asked what Daddy was doing. I lifted her up so she could see, and she saw the other brother and asked again, what is Daddy doing? I said that's brother. Both of us looked out and saw Arik in both of the boys, their dad was at the base of the scaffolding handing up the tin, and doing a math lesson on his tape measure as they went back and forth. It was a bleep of a moment, but the image is captured forever in my mind and heart. I read this newsletter post this morning, and it resonated with me, and I wanted to share. These times, teenage, covid, in general can be hard, but as I'm reflecting on that moment and this read, it's okay. When I feel like I want to light into them for the hard moments, is like Ann Voskamp said, I probably need to lighten up and give them a piece of my heart rather than a piece of my mind. These moments are growing them into men before our eyes, and the struggles are real, but an oak tree doesn't grow in one day, as Ann Voskamp shared in her blog. When I was young, my great uncle lived on our family's historic rose farm. Across this front yard were massive east Texas oak trees, with sandy dirty as their bed. I would dig with sticks beneath them for hours, collect pockets full of acorns, and sit beneath them and look up into their lightly swaying leaves and past into the deep of the blue sky overhead. I cherish these memories, just as I will cherish this image I have of our little boys growing into these young men before my eyes upon a set of scaffolding next to a barn. Sometimes there are moments that have us wanting to give up, but all the time there are moments to find the gratitude of not, the belief to weather the growth for all, and faith to know God is raising us all and raising our children up higher and higher to Him, just like those solid oak trees on an east Texas rose farm, grew towards the blue skies. Check out Ann Voskamp's blog that has me reflecting on the bigger picture today, and may you find moments that be still your heart that you'll carry in your thoughts.
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