Manna for Today

Today the kids had no clubs or lessons after school, so we all came home together and had an early dinner. After dinner, chores, and bedtime prep, I suggested the unthinkable. Now for some of you, this wouldn't be unthinkable, it would be normal, something you do every weekend. But for me, it was big. CC has skipped the country, and I am a single-mom for a couple of weeks. I teach part of the day, have a toddler, a preschooler, and 3 school-aged kids. I live in a foreign country. Yes, it's home, but many things are, and will perhaps always be, foreign. All that to say, I could potentially be considered to be in high stress mode. However, I have asked the Lord one specific request daily for these couple of weeks. I just want his 'manna' for each day. Whatever provision He gives me that provides the grace for just that day, that's what I want. So, I wondered tonight, as I suggested to all my little dears that we ALL bake sugar cookies, would His manna be enough? Would I get stressed out? Would I think the clean-up was surely not worth all the trouble? Would I have to finish up batch after batch of cookies after they'd all gone to bed and regret the whole thing? I only slept a handful of hours last night, then taught school, then been mommy all afternoon. But I felt like the idea was from Him, would his manna be enough?

It was. I had the time of my life. An egg fell on the floor. Hey, it's not the end of the world. Everyone had already brushed teeth, then ate sugar cookie dough. No biggie. Flour on noses. Sticky dough that had to be re-rolled. One batch got burned. But we had a great time.

Even a little guy in Stuart plaid pj's showed up, wanting in on the action. We finally locked him in the den and took turns doing Big Ben duty. Think of it like a cop's shift.

And then Firstborn got out her 'Shuffle' (that's a little thing the size of a matchbox that plays 200 songs) and set up speakers and we enjoyed music.

And then Steven Curtis Chapman's song Cinderella came on. You know that one...it's about the girl who dances with her daddy, then she grows up and goes to prom, then grows up more and gets married. I really try not to cry in front of my kids, but the manna had been so perfectly adequate and all I could think about was "This is only a season, I won't have them forever." I enjoyed my kids so much. And I know I won't have them forever. So I teared up. Then one of them teared up, too, and said, "Don't worry, Mama, I don't want to leave you. I won't go to college." And so today, I pray you gather His manna, whatever grace you need for today. I sure am glad I did.