Sorry Tree, But it was a Ho-Hum Kind of Day

Contrary to popular belief, not all days around here are exciting. Somehow they are all so very much the same, yet so different... Today was not exciting. I was really tired and did not feel very well. Thus we did not go anywhere (except for evening church), and there was a lot of TV watching going on. "Ho-hum" was the phrase I kept hearing in my head.

Around 3:30 or so, I decided to tough it out and take the big brothers outside to run off some energy. After a couple of popsicles, they turned their attention to one of the trees in the front yard. It started when Conner picked up the baseball bat (plastic, of course) and started hitting the tree with it, knocking off the leaves. I asked him not to knock the leaves off, so he proceeded to beat the tree’s trunk. I didn’t figure it was hurting the tree much, and was too tired to deal with it, so I just let him. Then Micah, seeing that it was safe now, started inspecting the leaves. He looked and felt, and picked them up off the ground. And then he started bringing them to me, giving them to me as gifts. It was pretty cute.
(I know that's a really funny face! But to those of you who know Micah well know it's quite familiar, a face he makes a lot when he's serious...)

Joey watched and chewed the burpee. And that was pretty much it, that was the exciting part of our day. (Except for when Conner so sweetly picked a flower for me -- from the neighbor's flowerbed. Oops.) …then we went to church. Bret was teaching class, and ended up talking a lot about prayer – how we pray, why we pray, why we don’t pray, what we should/shouldn’t do when we pray, etc… (It wasn’t just Bret talking, it was very much a discussion.) I was thinking about how a lot of my prayer happens as I type on this blog. I know it sounds trite, but this has really been therapeutic, helping me to gather my thoughts, reflect on my day, and it often ends up as a prayer of sorts. Especially meaningful are the times when God speaks to me through seemingly random things that happen during the day. I started thinking about what, if anything, God was saying to me today, what random thing stood out. All I could think of was that poor tree. And then it all came together…

I feel like that tree a lot of the time. I’m always there for these kids, providing things that they need in much the same way that tree shades us from the sun. And what do I get in return? Sometimes a little bit of water from the water hose or sprinkler…and sometimes a beating from a bat. Yet I remain, perhaps a little scarred but still as strong as ever. Sometimes my leaves get torn off, and occasionally I graciously allow them to be picked. And hopefully, the leaves that they get, the parts of me that my kids take with them, will become something that they treasure, gifts that they will someday give to someone else that they care about.

That it was what God said to me today. “Hang in there. You are strong like the tree. I made you that way for just this very job. You have plenty of leaves to give your kids, and they can and do examine and treasure them. Today may have been ho-hum, but like the tree, you were there…as am I for you…”