Hey All--     

" . . . if words could make wishes come true." 

Yep.  If I could, I surely would.  I would capture and keep moments and make them the defining moments Like the other night--Wednesday night.  If I could I would simply bottle up and save what I experienced and felt that night and say "this is it.  This is how I want things to be. Forever." Sometimes things do happen here at Grace--or, as we say, "Grace Happens"--and what I most want is for all of us to know and share the experience.  And sure, that's impossible--there is not one thing that "happens" here that every single one of us could be a part of.  But still, if I could . . .

Wednesday night was indeed one of those moments.  For 22 kids from Grace to openly affirm faith and spirit--and to experience the Bishop's affirmation and blessing--well, it was nearly as unconditionally good as it gets.  I have grown to love each of those kids--and since two of them were my own sons, that love runs very deep.  What I want is to capture the moment; seize it, own it, point to it as sign and symbol that "this" is what we do and who are.  Quite frankly, our nurturing attention to kids this age is nothing short of a mission for us--and I am only beginning to understand that for myself.

But I can't freeze those moments.  I can't own them.  Blake, my oldest son, fully 18 and fully ready to leave High School and Home, reminds me each day that there is no bottling time.  While we do "have time we haven't even used yet" we can't own and preserve each moment, saying "this is me.  My spot.  My place.  And this is where I will stay."  We might want to do just that, but . . . well, we know it can't happen.

Still, there are spots in time where I know that things and life and people and God converge.  And there I find, in those spots and moments, a glimpse of life not just as it could be, but life as it actually is.  Those moments then wake me up, heighten my awareness and expectation, and fill my heart with hope.  

With that hope in mind I'll just leave these thoughts with two links.  No introduction to them, just the links.  Go ahead.  Click.

Link 1.

Link 2.