A happy moment

Yesterday morning, I had a very honest talk with God. Without going into it all, I'll just say that a lot of it was about discouragement and disappointment. I sometimes feel discouraged that we aren't where I would like us to be spiritually, that some of the kids struggle with their faith. That we have slacked in our prayer life. That we have even slacked in our grace before meals, something that we've never done. I resolved to do better, with God's help. But my spirits were still low.

And then last night, on the way to my bedroom, I saw Anna holding her crucifix while lying in bed. She stayed like that for a long time, looking at the crucifix. I discreetly took a picture, because this to me, was a beautiful thing to see and I just wanted "proof" I guess, that I didn't imagine it.

He works in our hearts when we don't know it. And He works in our kids hearts without always telling us. .But He wanted to show me last night, that He is very active in their hearts, even if we aren't always active in His.

This morning I mentioned to Anna that I saw her holding her crucifix and I asked her what she was doing with it. She answered that she was talking to Jesus about some of her troubles at school, asking for help in dealing with it.

"I like to look at my crucifix when I pray," she added.

What a happy moment this was for me. I'm sure there are a lot of parents out there who have kids with a close relationship with God but today I wasn't focused on them; I wasn't going to ruin it by comparing our progress with someone else's. Today I was just happy to see that, yes, God is very much aware of our struggles and very much involved in helping us along in our journey. We aren't alone in this. I forget this often, or at least find it easy to believe that we are alone. Humanly speaking, it's hard to believe He would want to stick around for us when we have slacked so often. But He reminds me much of a parent that waits for their lagging child while on a walk. While the child wanders around in distraction, the parent always stops and waits, coaxing their child to "hurry up". The parent might get impatient with waiting (although God doesn't), but the parent always waits.