Fasting, Friends and Fall Fridays

I've noticed, and it's usually on a crisp day in the Fall, Our Heavenly Father will give me a glimpse of heaven. It's a little hard to explain but I will look at a picture from my camera that day or, even better, will actually see it when it's happening. I look at my kids, the background, the sky and it just looks too perfect to be real. It looks like we're all standing on a movie set. In a time when society can so easily bring me down...beauty, simplicity, perfection.  It's a blessing because, at those moments, I realize how perfect heaven will be. Absolutely too much to even conceive of while we are still here. Even better than the most perfect day now. What a great thing to turn our hearts and minds toward!

Today I had a few of those moments. I dropped the older two off and headed to the park with the three little people. I invited friends but wasn't sure that anyone was going to make it so we just did our thing. Allowing myself to be in the moment with these three is also a gift. When we were speeding through births and newborns and pregnancies there wasn't always time for days like today. How blessed we are to have the opportunity now.

As noted in the title, I'm fasting today for 40 Days for Life. It is something that I can do and it helps me as much as I hope it helps turn some hearts and minds back towards life. That being said, it's not something I enjoy. I was having a discussion with the kids at breakfast and I remarked, "you'd be amazed how much you miss being able to chew on something!" Of course we also discussed the why and when of fasting. I like that they're getting older. The discussions can be amazing at times.

Anyway, back to the park. We were just about the head out and grab some pretzels for their lunch (it's Friday...don't call the nutrition police) before pickup when our friends arrived. I had begun to wonder how many more hours there were until I could "chew something" and the Holy Spirit dropped my friend in front of me with lots of excellent things to discuss. I can say, without hesitation, I did not think about hunger for those 70+ minutes. Friends that you can talk to about fun and difficult things are such a blessing to me. Life is hard and I'm so grateful that we, as a family, don't have to go through this alone. God is so good.

I wish you blessings on this beautiful Friday. Here are the little ones having some Fall fun :0)