Tonight I arrived home at 9:00pm to find that there was still work to be
done and fighting had commenced between Nathanial (12) and Graham (10). I
noticed Nathanial hadn’t taken his afternoon dose of medication for his
Tourettes so his tics were quite evident and frequent. After cleaning up
the mess of kernals (the kind that would be all over the floor when you
break open a microwaveable heating pad) and laying down the law, the
homework was finished and I sent them to bed…ok, it wasn’t that easy, the
word grounded came up a few times and I am quite sure I raised my voice
since Arie stayed in his bedroom downstairs the whole time…(to his credit
he did help them to get some homework done after he got home from
weightlifting and tried to keep peace)

Graham had a small red book in his hands and he asked me if he could have it
as he was leaving the table. He then said, “Actually I found it and I
really wanted it, but since you are mad tonight you will probablly say no.”
I tried to explain that I was more disappointed and upset than mad but he
wasn’t buying it… Then the puppy dog eyes came into play. I asked to see
it and when I turned it over I saw that it was the God our Refuge book I had
picked up from Special Ministries a few years ago. He asked again if he
could have it. I remembered that I actually had a small pile of books from
are presentation I had done. I said that I would get him his own if he
would please go to bed.

I had gone down to do laundry and turned around to find Graham standing
behind me. A bit startled, my laundry was now on the floor. He said, “Now
don’t get mad but I was wondering if I could have that book tonight.” I got
him a book and told him to go back to bed. He made it a few steps in the
hall and turned around again to ask if he could have another one for
Nathanial. I gave him another on and made him promise that he would go to
bed now. I reminded him it was now very late, and I didn’t want to hear a
peep.

A few minutes later I heard nioses and went upstairs only to see their light
go on and they were talking. Now I was very tired and frustrated so I made
my way back down the hallway. Just before I reached the corner I heard what
they were saying. “I want to do that part, ok then I will do this part.” A
short pause and a throat clear later Graham started talking about lost sheep
and I realized that he was reading a bible passage. Nathanial then read
about the washing of Jesus’ feet. The Tourettes’ makes it difficult for him
to read fluently so it took a while. Graham frequently reminded him to take
his time and relax. He said, “No one else can hear you so don’t worry about
how it sounds and no one can see your tics.” I sat down in the hall and
listened to them for a while. When Nathanial finished reading he asked
Graham what he thought he had learned from the story. Graham told him and
proceeded to say, “and now we will sing a hymn.” With the Lord Begin Thy
Task,( 2 verses) came ringing out into the hallway. When they were done
singing, they agreed they would work on the notes tomorrow this was followed
by Nathanial saying “hey we’re praying now bow your head.” After the
prayer, Graham said “Now tomorrow night I get to read the story and you pick
the hymn.” They turned out the light and started to settle down. By this
time I am absolutely sobbing in the hall. Then I heard Graham
ask,”Nathanial, what does it mean With the Lord Begin Thy Task?” I opened
the door and said it means that we need to start and end our tasks with the
Lord. We need to ask for His help to start our day and thank Him for
bringing us through the night. What ever we do we should do it to God’s
glory and we should ask ourselves before we do something if it is
God-pleasing. Graham flipped on the light and said, “Oh man, I need to find
something to read when we get up in the morning. Hey look Nathanial, they
have a whole page on morning stuff in here! Am I too young to lead
devotions mom? Do you think the Lange’s (one of his teachers) have
devotions? I bet they do. I want to do it just like Mr. Lange does, hey
mom, he teaches bible stuff ya know.” He just started bubbling over with
things. I told him that he was not too young, yes I thought the Langes had
devotions and I certainly knew that Mr. Lange taught bible stuff…I told
them how proud I was that they had held their own devotion and tucked them
in.

I finally got them to sleep…I won’t say how late because both of their
teachers are reading this…but it was late, I’m sorry to say. I am hoping
the Lord with bless them with peaceful and restful sleep so they are
functioning tomorrow.

It is now 1:00am and I am still in awe of what had happened in their room.
As a single mom I pray that I don’t mess up too badly in the process of
raising my boys. Male role models for us are the men they see at school and
church. I attempted to have daily devotions before and they didn’t last
long unfortunately with the schedules we all kept. Frankly, trying to get
homework, dinner, laundry, dishes and getting them to sit for any period of
time together is next to impossible. So, we used the Christ Light lessons
during homework as our “devotional together time” and each of the boys
occasionally takes a turn to lead the prayer at meal times.

As I sat there listening to them tonight, I was again reminded that my
children are God’s gift. What a gift…even when I feel I am falling short
of what I think I need to be doing, God steps in and shows me that He is
still in charge. His Word works and He will find ways to make it known too.
It is my job to raise them and teach them to be leaders of their families
and in their church. But, how awesome to be reminded that when the seed is
planted and nourished it will grow. And, how humbling as a parent to have
your two youngest boys lead a devotion by themselves.

With the Lord Begin Thy Task…why that one, why not something else? I knew
the answer…There is always time, it doesn’t take long. If I begin with
God, I know that time for devotions will not be a problem. As with
everything else in our lives, sometimes it takes the faith of a child to
remind us why it really matters!

May God bless your day and your family as He has so richly blessed mine.
Thank you to everyone of you who has prayed for us and helped us in any way.
The little things mean so much. Thank you to Special Ministries for the
work you do in producing these books. Thank you God for entrusting me with
such precious children.