The first time he asked the question, it stopped me in my tracks. Over the next few weeks he would repeat his request on several occasions, each time unsettling my spirit a little bit more.

He reminds me that life is more than burdens and agendas and stress. And that sometimes stopping to smell the flowers is not quite enough.

What our children observe our hands holding day in and day out will greatly determine what they decide to busy their own hands with. What might begin to change if we started taking note of what occupies our hands most?

What if this year, for Christmas, we toned down on the things that tend to take us apart, and instead give gifts that encourage “Remember When” moments?

We fail so often to realize it–that those rough seasons are a part of a bigger picture. A bigger season. A season of age. Of days, weeks, months, years.

I knew that something was terribly wrong the moment I opened the door to the microwave. I saw it, but could it really be?

Yes. Yes it could.