It's A Beautiful Day

(Please Note: the following post is best read while listening to the above song. Hope you enjoy.)

So I had a lovely day today.

To preface that statement I must say it has been an interesting week. My wife has been extremely ill since Sunday night with what she calls the flu-of-a-lifetime. She has barely moved off of our couch-converted-into-a-hospital-bed, which, if you know my wife, is extremely unlike her. I mean she has babies and is up mowing the grass and rearranging furniture the next day. So I have been trying to help her and keep all of our kids alive, including one-month-old Isaac. And I'd be lying if I said I've kept it all together with a cool head.

But today, since all of the kids were off of school, I decided to get us out of the house so Shannon could rest. So we took a trip to Springfield. We ate at Imo's Pizza (which my kids loved!), did some shopping and hung out at McDonald's Playland.

With a 7 year-old, 5 year-old, & 3 year-old.

By myself.

And it was great.

No, really it was. It was just so wonderful to take some time with my kids and have no agenda other than enjoying the time together. To laugh and skip and climb on other people's furniture and sing songs together in the van loudly and off-key.

And on the way home, as I followed this truck with the "pee-on Obama" sticker on the back glass and the new Anberlin album playing in the background, the clouds parted and there was the most beautiful rainbow I remember seeing in a long time. I called for the kids to look so I could share this moment with someone, but I found they had all fallen asleep. And as I started feeling a little disappointment suddenly I realized I was sharing this moment with God. So I began talking to Him and found this extreme comfort in this beautiful moment amid a somewhat cloudy week.

He reminded me in that moment that even though it was somewhat of a tough week. Even though I am not strong enough to always respond in the right way. Even though this life is imperfect and messed up and broken, He still is in the business of making beauty out of our mess. Let's look for that beauty together this week. Let me know what you find.

God Bless. -Mark