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Castles

Today my biggest boy came to me emotionally damaged by his brother knocking down a lego castle he had built. After his tears subsided he expressed to me that his brother had hurt his feelings, and we talked about how our actions affect other people, and about why rules are in place to keep us from hurting eachother's hearts. He told me that his heart was hurting, and I expressed to him that mine was too. My guys had a "guy night" (which they LOVE!) last night so that I could go to a meeting- not the fun kind, the kind where you dig around in your heart and let God and trusted fellow believers uncover things that are buried in the dirt. While meetings like this are sometimes necessary for growth, the digging and uncovering isn't necessarily comfortable ;)

I didn't give my boy much detail, but I talked with him about how him and brother are working hard to learn how to be buddies, and explained to him that adults have to work to be "buddies" too, and that it's hard. I told him that my heart was hurting too, and that it made me feel better to hold him. He snuggled into my shoulder (all enormous almost-5-ness of him!), and told me that holding me made him feel better too. We sat there on the bathroom floor, and let our hearts beat close, healing eachother silently.

Little brother wandered in and expressed how sorry he was for crashing the castle, and then (being a mercy ;) ), did his best to make silly faces, etc, to cheer up brother. I thanked him for his intention of trying to cheer brother, but told him that brother just needed to be allowed to rest. He grabbed a couple cars and sat down on the bath mat to play. The two hurting hearts rested, and little mercy sat near and waited.

I was struck by how being silent and near can bring so much healing.

Psalm 46 says "Be still and know that I am God..."

Sometimes (often times) that's what I need: to be still, let my heart beat near God's, and let that silent near-ness bring healing.

What joy to know that God's heart is always near and waiting- waiting for us to come close, be still, and rest.


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