Generations of dirt piles.

This morning (no judgements please) I swept up the remnants of the party yesterday. As I scooted it into a neat little pile, tears welled up in my eyes. I saw bits and pieces of a wonderful day. It was so pretty with blue bits of moon sand, orange pieces of play dough, glitter and stickers, tissue paper and ribbon and cheerios. The thought of taking a photo crossed my mind, I should have. You all already think I am quite nuts.

I don't appreciate my dirt piles, nearly enough. These four kids and this life are making me realize what a blessing really is. Yesterday we were able to spend the whole day with family and friends visiting and celebrating the girls' birthdays. This is something we should do more often. It was so wonderful to see them. Having a big family makes it difficult to spend time together. We are all so busy and rarely have the same days available. It is such a blessing to be able to get together, whatever the occasion.

My first thought is to thank my mom and my in-laws for creating such families. I spend all this time in my little bubble and I forget about the family as a whole. My parents are amazing people. I can only hope that I will be such a mother as my mom and my mother in law. I was visiting with my sister yesterday about how when you see a 'good' kid you know that they must have had amazing parents.I pray that my kids will turn out to be 'good' kids. Teaching them how to Love God with all their heart and love their neighbor as themselves are invaluable lessons.

Speaking of big families always makes me think of God's BIG promise to Abraham in Genesis.

I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." {Gen. 12:1-3}

This truth (which is much too big for this post) becomes extremely important as we investigate the work of one of Abraham’s descendants, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our eternal salvation is based upon our relationship to Jesus Christ who came into this world through Abraham’s family. We become beneficiaries of God’s promise to Abraham through Christ.

“And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:29).

But our being “in Christ” depends upon God and God alone! Our eternal life and our future destiny are all of Him! God promised and God alone sealed the deal.

We accidentally or (more likely) purposefully forget to instill the little things in our children's lives that will make the most impact. I am talking about the character issues of the heart like grace, forgiveness, patience, faith, commitment and kindness in our daily actions. Remember the the promise? "You shall be a blessing" rings loud in my ears. I KNOW there is so much more to those verses than the blessings of a family...if I can just teach my children that God blessed them and they can be blessings...

Having my big family around me makes me want to be a better mom. It helps me see the beauty in the dirt piles. What have you swept up lately? Did you count the blessings?