His face and hands were painted with his favorite food, peanut butter, and snot, OH MY GOODNESS THE SNOT, was pouring out of both nostrils (which he had been smearing over everything in the house for the last two days, including our brand-spanking-new carpet) and I had run into the kitchen to check on him because I heard the now-familiar sound of crayon hitting laminate.
It had been a long few days with parent #2 out-of-town and us being primarily house bound (to spare the general population from the snot-smearing). So when I looked down at this mess of a two-year old holding a blue crayon it was the perfect set-up for a mommy freak out.
I peered into the brightest of blue eyes, looking sheepishly up at me and instead of a tightening in my chest, my heart melted in an instant and I scooped up my son. All of a sudden the snot and the peanut butter and the crayon and the chubby cheeks and mischievous grin were all I wanted to see for the rest of my life.
Sure he lost crayon privileges for the rest of the day, and I had to bust out the Magic Eraser and pin him down so I could wipe his nose (again) and bring out my stern voice, a mom’s gotta do what a mom’s gotta do. But my heart was full of love and grace and mushy, sappy, goodness.
He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
When God leads us mother sheep, it can look a lot of different ways.
Sometimes it is Him providing wisdom and discernment on where to send them to school and what words to say and which battles to fight and when to call the doctor.
It can look like leading us, brave and armed, into spiritual warfare so that we would pray for our little ones.
It can look like providing a community of moms to remind us that we’re not insane and alone, after all.
It can look like the supernatural strength required to survive on no sleep, to wash those sheets again, the strength needed to go to work, and the strength needed to stay home.
Today, for me, The Good Shepherd tended to me by melting a weary heart to the floor in a pile of gooey, sappy, giddy mommy-love.
How is God caring for and leading you, today?
The Kirsten Tree 