Peace Among Us

Our family celebrated my mother-in-love's life again in a special service held at a church in Florida where Pop recently served as interim pastor. This church body loved my in-loves like crazy, and we are so very grateful.

The service was peaceful and sweet. We gathered in a crowded sanctuary and celebrated her precious life as rain fell hard upon the tin roof above us ~ soothing us with its gentle, melancholy rhythm. It was God, in my opinion, pouring down his peace upon us that day. Always among us, never leaving us, just one of the many reasons that I love Him so.

I could write all day about this service, as well as, the one we had 2 weeks ago in New Orleans. The men who spoke at both services did a wonderful job of telling the story of the beautifully sacrificial soul that we were blessed to know and be influenced and inspired by. But, rather than record the parts of the service that were caught on video camera or via audio, I want to tell you about a little something that was going on in our little row that the cameras most likely did not catch. . .

Beforehand it was decided, Pop would sit between his two sons during the service. But, just as we were about to walk into the sanctuary, JCT ran up and grabbed Pop's hand. And before I could get to him, he and Pop were halfway down the aisle. I began to panic a just a little. I knew it would be difficult to get him to let go of Pop's hand. So, I whispered to Erik as we entered our row to "Get JCT." But neither JCT nor Pop would have any part in it and rather than cause a scene we just let JCT sit where he landed which was on the far side of Pop ~ between Pop and his Uncle Jason ("Bubba").

So, now I am in panic mode because I do not have control. JCT is too far away for me to pinch him or whisper to him or threaten him ~ too far away for me to control his fun little boy behavior. :-) And, I like control. :-) As the service begins, JCT is turning around looking at the audience behind him, putting his feet up in the air, and whispering loudly to Pop. And, I am literally sweating. I keep whispering to Erik, "Get. Him. Now." And, Erik kept patting my leg saying, "It is okay. It is okay."

But, all I could think was that Pop will not be able to focus on the service, and this is horrible, and could there be a worse scenario? And, Erik, will you get. him. right. now. I have no control from over here, and he is causing a scene, and he needs to go sit with Alan or Kevin or someone farther back. Why did I not nip this one in the bud? Why did I not have him in my arms when we came down the aisle or at the very least held his hand and steered him to his assigned seat ~ right beside me!

So, after about 10 minutes of JCT and I both squirming uncomfortably in our seats, Pop picked JCT up and placed my little man on his lap. I took a deep breath. Maybe now he would be still. Maybe, Lord, just maybe. And, just as Pop put JCT on his lap the first speaker went up to the podium to speak. And, as he spoke I prayed this prayer, "Dear Lord, please entertain him with thoughts. Flood his little mind with things to think about so that he will not be bored. Please Lord, pour your peace over my little boy and give him much to think about during the rest of this service."

And, you know what?

He did more than that, oh, so much more than that. . .

He went above and beyond my imagination and my feeble prayer. A few minutes later, I looked over and noticed that Pop was gently tickling JCT's arm. And, I calmed down a little. I took a deep breath and listened to the words of the speaker mixed with the gentle rhythm of the rain. Maybe Erik was right. Maybe it would be okay. The next time I looked over at JCT, he was sound asleep on Pop. And, as the various speakers spoke and singers sang, I couldn't help but continue to periodically look at my little man and his Pop. His breathing was slow and soft and soothing. And, if ever you have held in your arms a child whom you love deeply while he sleeps and you have felt the rises and falls of his sweet little chest against yours then you know the peace that they can bring to your soul. And, I prayed it for Pop. I prayed that God would manifest His peace to him through the tenderness of this sleeping little boy. And, he slept on Pop the rest of the service, and the memory is priceless to me.

Absolutely priceless.

(At this point I could write a little something about how I learned a lesson about how I should just relax and not try so hard to control things because God is really the one in control, and He has a greater purpose. . . . Yeah, yeah, but I'm not going to write it because even though I can see that this was the case, I can assure you that tomorrow I will still try to control things! So, I won't pretend that I'm a changed woman! ;-))