December 5th

31 Days of Jesus - Day 5 . . . Go outside and play!

Dedicated to one of my favorite people, Abi England. I used to attend the same Sunday School class as her when I lived in Charlotte. And at the beginning [or end, I don't remember] of every meeting, we'd share praises and prayer requests. She worked with kids back then, I think. I didn't know her very well. But I remember that she often shared "praise reports" sharing how she got to go outside and that it was just so beautiful. I vividly remember being in awe of her simple praise. I'm not an extremely "outdoorsy" person. But her face and her eyes just lit up as she praised God for the gift of experiencing his natural creation. She radiated with joy, and it was contagious.

It's a little late now. Haha, sorry about that. I tweeted and Facebooked what this blog was going to be about earlier today. If you are trying to follow along every day, and you didn't get this until tonight, I am sincerely sorry. But, I'm sure this goes without saying that you needn't follow these exercises "religiously". If you don't get outside until tomorrow or next week, no matter.

I went out and played in the snow with Sadie today! It was loads of fun, except for the fact that I don't own a pair of boots - my thick socks and tennis shoes held up for about an hour before I felt my toes becoming wet and cold. Thankfully, we didn't make it out of the house until 4pm, so we only had an hour of daylight left for frolicking. We sledded and made a snowwoman. All in all, a blast was had.

At the end, Sadie became a little whiny, wondering out loud why we didn't get to do other fun snow activities, like having a snowball fight. Irritated, I explained to her that it would make me very happy if she could be thankful for what we did get to do instead of whining about what we didn't. She contemplated that as we trudged home, both a little sad, and walked in the door dripping with cold, wet, slushy snow.

But even if it was a little dampened at the end I can't help but be thankful for the time we had together. Her and I, we giggled and guffawed out there in the cold today. If you're a parent, I'm sure you know, one of the most sincerest pleasures as your kids grow up, is to share a whole-hearted laugh with them. Not to laugh at something they did that was cute [although that's great, too], but to realize that they are growing up - and their humor is maturing! And suddenly, you understand each other on this whole new level. And it's beautiful and precious and funny.

Yay, God!