If memory serves, it seems that around the time I discovered boys I also learned about duct tape. Doesn't it just seem like men and duct tape go together? Some of our dearest friends have a 14-year-old son who just loves duct tape. He uses it on just about everything. Got a tent with a hole in it? Use duct tape. Electrical cord got a short? Duct tape. Looking for a new baseball cap? Make one out of duct tape! (He seriously did this.) As a matter of fact, for his birthday, this young man asked for one thing....new rolls of duct tape.
Did you know you can buy it in a wide assortment of colors and patterns? Yes, duct tape is magical. Maybe duct tape is the 8th wonder of the world. I'm led to believe that if a nuclear bomb hit and the world as we know it ceased to exist, cockroaches and duct tape would still survive!
There are times in my life when I could really use some emotional duct tape. When I feel like I'm unraveling, somebody needs to patch me up with fluorescent pink duct tape (one of the many colors for sale at Ace Hardware).
Back-to-school season is one of those times. Our family enjoys awesome summers. We load up on sunshine and family time. Then, just when we've finally shaken off that last shred of tension from the previous school year - BAM! - it's time to start all over again. The older my kids get the more I dread school starting. It's like I can see the hands on the clock moving at super speed, threatening to make my kids grow up before I am ready.
This is when God reminds me that He's my emotional duct tape. Look at this - "He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." (Colossians 1:17) YES! God is my duct tape! Jesus holds me together when I see my kids growing up too soon. He holds me together when they start wanting to spend more time with friends and less time with mom. He holds me together when my son no longer wants me to walk him to class on the first day of school.
Tonight, Jack asked me to scratch his back as he settled into bed. The lights were off and you could hear the comforting rumble of distant thunder. As I sat on the edge of his bed rubbing his back, he began to share about his day.
This may sound crazy, but I just sat there listening and thought about the duct tape. I thought about how, yes, someday he'll be too old to ask me to rub his back to help him sleep. He'll be too big to want to have me near when he's drifting off. He won't always want to share about his day, perhaps. And as my heart begins to break at the thought of my boy growing up too soon, Jesus is also there.
He's speaking His promises to me. He's reminding me of His faithfulness to my children as they grow up in Him. He holds all my precious memories of the past and helps me focus on all of the memories yet to be made. Will it break my heart when my boy is no longer a boy? I imagine in some ways it will.
But Jesus is already there in that moment holding my heart together...just like duct tape.
No comments:
Post a Comment