Day 243 Would Jesus Mind That Creeky Smell?

Dear friends,

It's never boring, being the mother of boys. Yesterday Joe invited 6 friends to the house for a sleepover (aka "wakeover"), and planned for all of them to sleep in the rather small "fun room" we have down in the cellar. I couldn't imagine how the heck they were all going to fit down there. Well, before the indoor activities began, the boys took a hike down into the gully beside our house. There's a creek down there, which was the scene of another Smith family story when Joe and a friend wound up in the water in March about 4 years ago. Anyway, these 7 strapping lads decided a dip would be dandy, so in they went, clothes, shoes and all. They arrived back at my home dripping, dirty and smelling like a swamp. My shower looked like a mud hole when they were done. They were talking and laughing in the basement when I woke up at 5am, and at 6:30 when I got up for my day, all was quiet. Crazy, maddening, wonderful boys.

I look at it this way: I am a blessed woman. My son hangs around with kids that don't drink or do drugs. They don't mess with other people's personal property, and they go to school every day. So swamp clothes and all nighters are small things. I'm learning the best I can not to sweat the minor things. I mean, my daughter had a brain bleed and my husband's blood pressure hit 40/20, so what if my breezeway is littered with...yucky stuff. Perspective is a marvelous thing. But the tub was still pretty disgusting...

You know that saying "what would Jesus do?" He probably would have gone swimming in the creek with them, and given them some meaningful words for the life in their difficult world. I gave them Doritos and soda, and didn't yell about the mess. Still, wish I was more like Jesus...

David John is home from camp! He had to soak in the tub (after I cleaned it!) to get the camp dirt of a week off of him. His dirty clothes smelled alot like the big boys clothing from the creek. Today is a major laundry day. When David said "I feel closer to God" after a week in the woods, it made my day. Because really, that's where true, lasting joy finds its foundation, and there are no greater riches our kids could ever have. I am amazingly, undeservedly blessed.

We take it one day at a time with our children. No one knows what will come into their experience to challenge them, delight them or give them the run of their lives. My daughter's road was not one I would have ever chosen for her. I get sad about it sometimes, and angry too, but I know she has seen, and will see "the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." She is 8 months out on an 18 month physical road to recovery. But there is more to us than flesh and blood...

I can't control what comes into the lives of those I love, never mind my own life. But while I have breath I can, imperfectly but with passion, love them, stand with them...and wash their swampy clothes. That's after all, what Jesus would do.

Your friend on the pilgrim road,

Loriann