Flowing Blessings

Photo courtesy of telachhe

I find it adorable when one of our babies tries to grab the stream of water I pour from a container into the bath water. His little face lights up with concentration as he tries several times to take hold of the sparkly, seemingly-solid object in front of him. Eventually, he will just learn to enjoy the feeling of the water flowing over his fat little hand, knowing it is not something to be grasped.

It occurred to me that God's blessings, particularly the gift of childhood, are just like this flowing water. They are beautiful. They are intriguing. And, they are flowing. Once we realize that, like the stream of water, they are not something we can catch and grab hold of, we know that our only option is to embrace the gift of each blessing flowing through our lives.

Our current baby is the worst sleeper we've ever had. I can count on one hand the number of times I have put baby guy to bed and he has not woken up 20-40 minutes later, needing to be put back to sleep. In his first 10 months or so, it was impossible to get him back to sleep most nights and he would end up awake, hanging out with me. I often reminded myself that I loved him, loved being with him and that it wouldn't last forever. A lot of times, though, I complained about not having any time to myself.

A couple of nights ago, I was upstairs snuggling beside baby guy as he drifted back off to sleep. I thought about how much I loved his adorable baby breath, his chubby face in the light peeking in through the blinds. My tears started pouring forth as I realized how very much I would miss this someday. I wanted to stop time and lie there forever, kissing his beautiful little cheeks. I determined to do my best to savour the blessings God pours into my life, particularly the ones that I am tempted to complain about because it is probably these little things I will miss the most.