School Days

The echoes are growing dimmer. "Have a good day at school!", was once a loud and noisy affair. It was full of missing homework and lost shoes while the mornings rang with "Hurry! You'll be late!" and one more hug good-bye.
With only two nearly-done-with-school children, the mornings feel quiet and calm. Occasionally I'll get a request to iron a shirt or to make scrambled eggs. But mostly, it's me simply being available, sharing their early morning rituals. I no longer need to braid her hair or find clean pants. I don't need to wait for the bus to bring them home or walk with them to school. There is time to sit, enjoying the quiet, lifting up prayers for their day, their year.
As I drop them off at school, I feel the pull adulthood has on them. I notice, again, the beauty and grace of one and the confidence and athletic build of the other. I hear his deep voice and listen for her quiet response. I recognize there are only a handful of days before these seeds, too, will scatter and take root, before my early hours will be totally still.
It is easy to live in yesterday when it was loud and rambunctious or to live in the utter quiet of tomorrow. Both cause me to feel sad. The harder task is to live in today, to relish what is, rather than what was or will be. I am reminded, again, of my need to be thankful, in all circumstances, (1 Thessalonians 5:18 NLT) even in  dimming echoes.
So, Father, I thank You for:
1. Echoes growing dim.
2. These two, quietly preparing for the day.
3. The privilege of joining this ritual, today.
4. Dishes stacked which means there are still several here.
5. An empty house in which I have the time to think and breathe, to write and create, without distraction.
6. The grace of so many days and hours filled to overflowing.
7. The quiet stream of these last two being poured out from that same overflowing.
8. The privilege of being "Mom".
Today, I will "Hold on to what is good." (1 Thessalonians 5:21 NLT) And what is good, is this moment, spent with my Father, and thanking Him for what is.