Breathless Moments...

Last night, Nate and I had the privilege of taking out 5 seniors who just graduated out of our youth ministry.
We got dressed up (if you consider a princess dress with chucks "dressed up,"), loaded up the church van for one final ride before they embark on the ride of their life to college, and headed down the Inner Harbor in Baltimore where we indulged our faces in cheesecake.  As I sat across from students who we have poured our life into for the past 6 years, students who we have watched "grow up," I couldn't believe that in a matter
of days, they would be off to college beginning the next adventure in their life.  Time goes way too fast.  These days, time seems to be moving faster than I can catch up with.  At the start of the summer, I knew that I was entering a season that would probably leave me breathless, but I am not sure that I realized just how much.  Physically, we have been on the go since the end of June.  From a 600 mile road trip to Maine, to a 12 day vacation to the Jersey Shore with my family (where we stuffed 14 of us in one house), to 5 Mission Road Trip Stops with our youth group, to a week of teen camp where the average night's sleep was about 4 hours (with a 20 month old child), to a 10 day missions trip to Honduras, we have literally packed in just about as much as one can get in a summer calendar.  And just when there didn't seem to be any more room to squeeze anything else in, two days after Honduras we attended a wedding and I began coaching volleyball at a brand new school.  Just writing that paragraph has left me breathless.

There have been so many times that I have wanted to blog this summer, but I have not only struggled to find the time, but have often struggled to find the right words.  The reality is, I have felt breathless at times because of the sheer beauty of God's goodness to us this summer.  I felt breathless as I watched Biruk play with his cousins at the edge of the ocean, something I have only been able to dream about.  I felt breathless as I watched my mom pick Biruk up over and over again on our family vacation wanting him to experience all that we had been waiting for him to experience for so many years.  I felt breathless as I watched his Nan tuck him into bed at night, kissing his forehead, making sure that he knew he was deeply loved.  I felt breathless as I watched my Biruk run to my Dad hugging him with all of his little might.  I felt breathless as I watched my husband be moved to tears as he shared with 250 teenagers why that particular July 22nd was so special at teen camp...Biruk's gotcha day.  I felt breathless as I watched the teens in my youth group having their heart broken in an orphanage for the first time, knowing that moment could change everything.  I felt breathless as I held my little guy the morning I returned home from Honduras after a ten day journey that had kept us apart for the very first time.  God's goodness this summer has left me breathless.

Time moves much faster than we would like.  It seems as though it was just yesterday that Nate and I were boarding a plane with Biruk, getting ready to come home.  He was so small that he fit in a little baby carrier against my chest.  He couldn't walk, he couldn't talk, and he certainly couldn't begin to comprehend the kind of family he was getting himself into.  Today, Biruk crawled up into his car seat and attempted to buckle himself in, while babbling a mile per minute, and laughing hysterically...all at the same time!  Time is moving faster than we can keep up with.

I don't think time is going to slow down, but I do know one thing.  I want to experience this life in a way that leaves me breathless...not because of busyness....but because of the sheer goodness of God.  I pray that in the seasons that seem to move faster than we would desire, we would stop and notice God's beauty in the midst...and that would take our breath away. 
Just one of those moments that left me breathless...





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