Some Things are more Important than Bedtime

"So do we just float around in outerspace when we die?" Emma's question caught me off guard as I sat in the hallway reading them a nightime Bible story. After trying to find the scent of her trail of thinking, I said, "No, we go to Heaven." "Well, where is Heaven? Is it a real place?" wondered Ben. "Yeah, what's it like?" chimed in Emma. It was one of those miraculous moments, moments you want to capture on an indelible film and store away for easy retrieval in the Sundance Festival of our brains. It's a moment you hope for, dream of, but can't plan. When children start asking beautiful questions about the spiritual realm, there's-more-to-this-life type questions. I knew their little minds were really stretching and going in new realms of possibility and I didn't want to miss it b/c some things are more important than bedtime.

"Some things are more important than bedtime." I just read Randy Pausch's book, The Last Lecture," a collection of thoughts and wisdom from a dying father to his children. As a kid in the 50s, he was at summer camp when John Glenn and his crew first landed on the moon. The lunar landing was broadcast on tv, but like all babybirths, it was impossible to predict the time. As the hour approaced 11 o'clock, the kids were hustled off to bed, missing one of the greatest glimpses of history in this century.

This story puts my mommy schedule and task list into perspective. We all have things in mind to accomplish on a daily basis, I set time targets for Kevin and the kids like a businessman's sales goals. What are the markers against which we measure ourselves as parents... "Did we get them to bed on time or early?" Yes - success. "Did they remember to take their anti-biotics, vitamins, brush teeth and hair, pack lunches AND get them into their backpacks, make beds with minimal scrapping?" Not really - failure. How do we balance the necessary evil of our task lists with being available to seize the moment when a beautiful conversation opens like a summer rose?

To be continued...