Thankful Thursday, a Psalm, a tooth

 

I have a battle cry today and here it is: 
Psalm 30:8-12

 To you, O Lord, I cry,
and to the Lord I plead for mercy:
“What profit is there in my death,
if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it tell of your faithfulness?
Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me!
O Lord, be my helper!”

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
you have loosed my sackcloth
and clothed me with gladness,
that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

Every time I think the thing with my mother is getting better--that the distance I put between us is making a difference in my overall health--someone will call or give an opinion in some way. My brother will say, "You've got to call mom." Or an aunt will offhandedly say, "I think unconditional love is the best thing always."

Then, all my hard-fought peace will disappear once again and I'm back at square one. This time vertigo appeared, which is sometimes my body's response to extreme stress. I have to lie down with the vertigo, and the kids always get stressed when I lie down. Then I get more stressed because I'm angry that this is affecting my kids.

 

How I hate the power this woman has over my health and well-being! I know she is not the enemy and that we all fight the same enemy. I know inside she is miserable and that if she had the courage to be honest, she feels terrible for the way her choices have affected her three children. On the surface she sees me as a terrible, self-righeous person and hating me is easy for her, although she would never admit it. I have to hope that somewhere deep inside, she knows my recommendation for rehab is spot on, and that even though she is in her early 70's, she'll realize it is never too late to live well, to live in truth, and make amends.

 

Will God make beauty from these ashes? From all these wasted years? From all these broken relationships? How much cooperation will he need from my mother? Will she ever give him any, and if not, will he pluck her unaware, like he did the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus? I've never met a person more hostile to the gospel than my mother, and that scares me most of all.

 

Pray with me for a miracle, please?

 

Thankful Thursday Kids' Addition

 

Paul

~ lots of seeds

~ that I found the morning glory seeds we saved from last year's crop

~ a very pleasant day so we can plant more seeds

~ no clouds or humidity, blue skies

~ for my family

~ that we're going to the fishing contest and our neighbor Landon gets to come

~ that I'm homeschooled

~ that God saved us from our sins

 

Mary

~ sunny, blue skies

~ that I can dig a garden spot for some flowers

~ for my sister

~ movies to watch when I'm sick or scared

~ blankets to cuddle with when I'm cold or scared

~ God gives us food to survive and help when we pray

~ such a wonderful, pleasant day today

 

Beth

~ that I lost my tooth today

~ for Thankful Thursday

~ for plenty of robins in the yard

~ that I love my sister Mary

~ that my Mommy thinks I'm funny and smiles at me and hugs me (oh, but she loves to be the cute one!)

 

Peter

~ for birds, and nesting bluebirds in our yard

~ for corn seeds to plant

~ for gardens

~ siblings

~ my mom and dad

~ trees

~ our friend Landon

~ the fishing contest

~ flowers

~ eternal life

~ that God answers prayers

~ that there's joy in the garden from the Lord

 

Little Beth's front teeth have been loose for several weeks, and the dentist said she needs to wiggle them faithfully, for she hadn't been doing so and her gum was bruised. My other three drove themselves and us crazy wiggling their loose teeth, talking about them, and generally obsessing about them until they finally came out. Then we breathed a sigh of relief.

 

You know how it is?

 

Not so with Beth. She completely ignored the loose teeth, and wiggled them only upon command for a second or two. I kept forgetting to work on them myself, except for a couple minutes after brushing, which wasn't enough and I wasn't going to keep her up later doing it. I guess the exhausted Mommy in me had faith that God had a plan for these kids who weren't bothered by loose teeth, and surely we weren't supposed to keep their tired bodies up late wiggling and yanking teeth?

 

More weeks went by and she continued to ignore them. The permanent teeth did their job, however, and one of baby teeth finally begin to hang down, but still, it didn't bother her and she ignored it.

 

This morning she was eating a banana--her most favorite food in the whole world. She came over to me with a gap in her mouth, her tongue touching it. "Mommy, there's something wrong with my tooth."

 

"It fell out!", I said triumphantly. "Where is it? We need to leave it for the tooth fairy."

 

"I'll go get it! I thought it was a seed in the banana."

 

She proceeded to fetch it and bring it to me.

 

I put the tooth in a baggie, to be put under her pillow later. Next she says to me: "But, Mommy, since there's really no tooth fairy, can you just give me the dollar?"

 

Daddy, aka the tooth fairy, is rarely on time with the loot, so the tooth fairy is kind of a joke around here with the older ones, who haven't given Beth a lot of faith. 

 

Anyway, today I'm thankful for all five year olds...and especially for mine, for she makes my heart sing. She reminds me that nothing in this world is so serious after all. If you look through the lens of a five year old, you'll see all the beauty you need for that smile, and have all the faith you need to climb that mountain.

 

What are you thankful for today, friends?