Seeing Beauty In a Babe's Slobbery Kiss

Hand prints on mirrors, toys scattered around the living room floor, and pacifiers at every important station around the house, my son leaves a trail a mile long behind him. If you looked at the mess with purely short-sighted eyes, you would wonder how the floor will ever be free of toys again or when we will be spared from sitting on yet another pacifier in our chairs. Nevertheless, on this cold and rainy day, it's not the mirrors that are calling my attention or the carpets that are ready to get their space back, rather, it's an adorable 7 month child and his slobbery kisses.

Yes, Connor has began to learn kissing. Open mouth, drool running down his chin, and sometimes even his tongue getting in the way, my babe likes to lunge for my face and lay a juicy wet one right on my cheek. How precious it is! Wiping off the excess slobber from my skin, I looked down at him and a smile only to find his smile bigger than mine. His takes up his whole face in sheer delight of showing love to his mommy.

Time and time again, these moments brighten my day. He's not aware of the current headline news or how the economy is impacting the world. He doesn't know the hardships of life or the pain of suffering, but he does own one thing and he shares it - the innocence that God has placed in him and that beautiful thing called "joy" we so often forget or lack in our lives. He gives simple yet fully in our joyful  play, tickle wars (I win :) hugs and kisses. It is in these precious and fast-moving moments that I realize how beautiful this season of life is.

Beauty comes in all different forms - most often, seen, but sometimes, they are invisible. I'm learning to see beauty in not what is seen, but the unseen forms of the expression of something beautiful. If you're a mom, you know how difficult this can be at times, especially if you stay at home and manage the affairs of your family - seeing the bad is always easier than to see the good. Yet, its been this season that the LORD has used to challenge me with the eternal sight rather than the temporal.

• The temporal says that a clean house is a MUST - the eternal says that showing love and spending time loving surpasses material things
• The temporal says that schedules are more important than people - the eternal says to care for one another, show love, and do good
• The temporal says that the business and demands of the day should consume you - the eternal says to remember why I am here and to have an upward focus on Christ
• The temporal averages your lifetime cost of children - the eternal says that children are a blessing 

There is no child on this earth like Connor. God has uniquely made him and designed him for His purpose and will, and to be a part of our family. He is a delight to our lives like nothing I ever hoped for or imagined. 

I'm his mother. I am called to love, train, and bring him up in the ways of the LORD. To do this, I must see the eternal truth, find beauty in the moments, and trust Jesus in all realms of our lives.

 Today, I see Jesus, the beauty, the truth and the trust. It comes in the form of a baby's loving and slobbery kisses.