Number 4

On our way home my six year old wants to put in Sanctus Real and listen to "number 4".  (Which is "Lead Me")  We are riding and singing.  There is special meaning with this song for our family.  My mother-in-law had heard this song and thought of her son.  She gave it to him at a season in our marriage that was extremely stormy.  I'm not sure if she knew, or how much she knew.  Doesn't really matter.  The song is written from the heart of a husband and father to God to lead his wife, his kids, and himself.  Great song if you haven't heard it.  But we can all place ourselves in that role somehow leading someone else and the reponsibility that it bears.  My kids saw it touch their mom and their dad.  So they call it "number 4...you know the one you and daddy cry to."

So it is a family fav.

We are singing and driving.  We are at the end of the road and as I turn, I look left.  Wow, bright light.  (We live in Washington so we don't really see the sun for a few more months.)  I turn right and as I look back, I see a beautiful light filled sky shimmering through the back window.  My six year old singing, "Lead me with strong hands, stand up when I can't, don't leave me hungry for more..."  I look again through my mirror to the back.  A window full of little fingerprints and smudges.  The sky glowing a yellow-orange framed by great evergreens.  Why am I so cranky again?  What was that previous post about?

I turn again onto our road.  My daughter still singing onto the last verse, "...To stand up when they can't don't want to leave them hungry for love, chasing things that I couldn't give up."

I look to the left over the little lake that we drive by.  God's painting in the sky soft blue to a glowing amber to burning pink.  Wow.  Thank you God.  In a day that I thought would end on a sour note just because I was in that kind of a mood.  He even takes that and places my little daughters voice to be singing just the words I need to here, in just that moment He designs for me a once in a lifetime sky.  So glad that He is a loving and patient Father.  And instead of getting irritated with me for spilling my own pineapple on the floor, or getting distracted from cleaning my room and playing with the jewelery, He draws me close.  He tells me of a story of two little girls who need a mom who can show them through her own actions and attitude of what a Godly woman is.  To speak His love with her lips.  He tells me of a story of a sister, who needs her sister to put her arm around her and comfort her and guide her and have faith in her.

Shhh.  If you listen and get still, God is whispering a story to you.  What is it?