Five Minute Friday ~ Under

Gypsy Mama is taking a break from Five Minute Friday for the month of December; since I start my Christmas vacation from school today, however, I've got more time to enjoy Five Minute Friday this month than I normally do...

So, I came up with a list of words that might be heard around Christmastime - and am randomly selecting one for each Friday in December.

This Friday's word is...

Under

The obvious Christmas connotations for the word "under" are presents under tree, shepherds under stars, stable bathed under heavenly light...

My thoughts didn't go that way, though...

Instead, maybe because it is such a busy time with our annual smattering of just before Christmas birthdays, end of the semester at school and all those other time consuming obligatory expectations - I find myself slipping into that selfish mindset where I think of my littles (and bigs, if I'm honest) as being annoyingly underfoot instead of treasured blessings.  

 

Thankfully, at least this little one doesn't hold it against me.

In fact, she so wants to be near me, she'll crawl under my chair to sleep on the cool, hard, sandy tile floor....

Even when I'm too busy, too preoccupied, too self-occupied, too distracted, too focused on other things, she chooses to be near me. She allows herself to tumble into sleep, trusting that when I'm ready, I'll gather her in my arms and carry her to bed.

These pics, snapped by my husband the other evening while I was working at the computer, re-ushered in one of those returning revelations... truths once grasped, have become uncinched and now need to be reseized...

I know there are times when knowing in my head God is never too busy for He's watching over me, He's intimately involved in the events of my life and He's above, below, behind, before, beside - surrounding me completely, just doesn't seem enough. Moments, days, weeks, even seasons feel like I've been abandoned or that God has other issues that are much more pressing, infinitely more important... than me. I automatically, often angrily, respond with hurt feelings, that martyr complex and pulling away...

Much better would be curling up at His feet, under His throne resting, whether it felt like He was paying attention to me or not, confident in the fact that at the right time, He'll pick me up and carry me off to a more comfortable, softer and gentler place.