Movement Of The Spirit With Christmas In July
Papa duty started early today. My daughter had a photo shoot reschedule for this morning and my wife, who would normally step up to the plate to handle the care taking that needed to be done, had a previously scheduled brunch with some former colleagues this morning. When Kathy got this portentous call earlier this week I heard her tell the story of her unavailability followed by “let me put you on speaker and you can ask your dad.” I had already signed up to be care taker in the afternoon so this daughter could treat her mother to a nail treatment.
As daughter number one asked the question of my availability to cover the morning shift, she offered a hedge to reschedule the the afternoon nail salon visit so that it would not be too much for me. Knowing grandchild number seven would be napping and his siblings would be allowed their screen time during that stint, I encourage her to keep both slots, I’d be happy to watch the kids.
But I’ve rarely been creative with kids. It’s rare for me to be so engaging to be able to tend to the needs of seven year old to seventeen months all at the same time. When I arrived at eight-thirty for the first shift all but number seven were asleep. (Isn’t summer wonderful?) Gradually the others woke up and had their breakfast. Then they were ready to engage, but they were each engaging with their own personal needs at that time. I tried my best to keep up, but found my self spreading too thinly.
Luckily these kids are very creative. I forget who said “let’s play Santa Clause” but the suggestion saved our morning. Playing Santa Clause with five people involves each of us taking turns pretending we’re Santa while the others pretend they’re asleep. Santa then visits each sleeper and deposits stuffed animals next to the pantomime snoozer. Once all the stuffies are delivered, “Santa” yells “it’s Christmas morning!” and all the sleepers rise and rejoice in their treasures. Then we repeat, and repeat. This was a good morning where I saw the Spirit move through children to save me from myself.
What happened in your ordinary life today where you can now see the Spirit at work?
