At church on Sunday we had the graduating senior celebration as part of the service. Each senior had a slide with the their baby picture and graduation picture. I’ve seen this kind of thing many times before, but this year I just sat and cried. I know it’s silly, but I kept thinking about how Joshua’s picture and then Mary Claire’s will be up on some sort of screen like that someday and how that someday will probably come much more quickly than I can even imagine. God reminded me to cherish each of the precious moments I have with my children and to cherish them just as they are in these moments. To cherish their emerging personalities, their blossoming bent toward independence, their laughter, their silliness, their desire to play outside all day, their messes, their requests for me to play with them…to cherish it all, the lovely and not-so-lovely altogether. Because they will not be as they are in these moments for long. They will be off before I know it. And I want to know that I was all there with them, truly engaged in who God was making them day by day and being a happy part of their childhood story.
So, here’s to the 14 and 17 more years (Lord willing!) until Joshua and Mary Claire’s graduation Sunday! May they be full of love and grace!
…just a few pictures snapped in our neighborhood today
