Sufficiently Sweet

A certain two-year-old vandal that resides with me is a great sleeper… Usually. It is not really fair to accuse him of being otherwise. He is a good sleeper. For some reason, our society continues to terrorize us with daylight savings time.  So, this two-year-old is wide awake at 4:00 am – which my body believes is 3:00 am. This means he will want to go to bed tonight at 7:00 pm, which we all know is 6:00 pm. This new normal will start to feel right just about the time we fall back to the old time schedule and a fresh hell on earth will be redefined.

I would have liked to sleep for another hour or two… or six.

In addition to being a good sleeper (if we lived in Arizona) this two-year-old, is a dear, sweet spirit. He is genuinely precious. Yesterday after his haircut he hugged the barber. Later at lunch, he hugged the waitress. And his hugs have the added bonus of a gentle pat, pat, pat on the back while hugging. His chubby toddler hand pats are such an amorous gesture, the waitress actually teared up. She looked at me with misty eyes and whispered, “He’s patting me.”

Be still my heart – he is sweeter than molasses.

He has a throaty voice. So although he’s just a little guy, he has this raspy smoker’s aspect to his speech that continues to amuse us. If you have ever seen the cartoon King of the Hill, it is like Bobby’s voice. In the presence of babies, his voice goes to a maternal 10 octaves higher.  He sweetly pats them and says “Hi bebe, you need some milk?”

Darling, and I type this now and still profess his darlingness – but you’ll have to excuse me a moment while I go clean up the entire box of Frosted he just emptied on the floor…. Followed by a full cup of orange juice.

 

Where was I?

OH!  Yes, a darling little vandal. As I swept, he kept saying, “Sowwy mommy, sowwy bout dat mommy.”

Now, he’s standing on the chair next to me rubbing my back.

 

 

 

And yes, it is 5:00 am, which we all know is 4:00 am. And yes, I worry that my blogging brand will be known as “that woman that is tired and complains about it all the time.” But, in the midst of fatigue, vandalism, stickiness, and wasted cereal flakes – there is sweetness.

I knew which scripture reference I wanted to use today, I wasn’t completely sure how I would adequately describe what it means to me. Daylight savings time rocks my world and the world of the toddler vandals. However, in the midst of the walking nightmare and confusion of the internal clock versus a wicked government, there are little blessings.  Blessings I am glad I am awake for.

Looking back to more serious seasons of turmoil I can recall little pats on the back that were consoling and dear. And I fully embrace those little reassurances as God lovingly nudging me along. Whispering sweet nothings in my ear and giving me the strength to press on toward the prize. Somehow, there is a beauty in the suffering. Somehow, He makes it enough. He is enough. Praise God that I feel I might die of exhaustion. Praise God we are out of cereal. I profess His goodness through Zombie red eyes as I scribe another grocery list!

 

 

And as I boast the brokenness of this painfully early morning I am thankful for a God that fills in the gaps and is ready to help me make it through the next few hours until nap time.  He is good. It is well. Now, if you’ll excuse me, a certain precious two-year-old just spilled a brand new container of jasmine rice.  Little angel boy…

 

May your floors be sticky and your calling ordained. Love, Jami

But he said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect
in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses … 2 Corinthians 12:9