Phone Calls and Football

God’s been challenging me in a lot of ways lately, but He is also very kind to fill me up with sweet pleasures out of the blue. This past Friday, I missed a call from Derek and was so sad since I haven’t talked to him since we were there to visit. But last evening my phone vibrated during devotions at small group. I looked down to see it was an incoming call from Georgia. My heart skipped a beat; I was so excited. I felt pure delight as we talked and even after I hung up. I know there was an afterglow on my face. It made my whole day.

And earlier that day, I was watching Zach play in the back yard with a few friends. I could just see him from afar and tell that he was in pure heaven hanging out and playing with his great friends. I was thanking God for the gift of life and for bringing boys along side Zach that bring him so much joy. I was delighting in God and all that He is to our family.

I want to hold on to that delight as I head into the week. Zach loves sports and loves me to pitch football to him. He begs me to play almost every evening after dinner. He will even start on the way home from school, “Think we can play football tonight, mom?” I always say something along the same lines… “Probably, let’s see.” I find I love to play with him and very thankful that my 15-year old still enjoys sports with me, but sometimes I’m just tired and want to chill with a book. So I answer slightly in the affirmative with wiggle room to let me off the hook if I so choose.

Yesterday as I was visiting with a neighbor, she said that she saw Zach and me in the backyard the other evening. She said watching me, as his mother, throw the football to him brought tears to her eyes. That touched me. I never thought that a simple act of playing sports with my second born could affect someone else.

I thought last night and this morning that those precious opportunities that God gives me with my boys, friends, or a neighbor should never be wasted. As a matter of fact, God had told me that a few days ago when He gave me this Scripture - Ephesians 5:15-16 “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”