Sunday, before church, I made a sincere effort to spend some time in Bible reading and prayer. I made it about halfway through the first sentence of the Book of Common Prayer’s collect for that day before my daughter started asking me something about graham crackers. I told her to be quiet. She paused, briefly, and continued. After several more volleys I decided to punt and told her I would read her what I was reading if she sat quietly. What follows took place in the course of that effort, and is indicative of the entire episode.
Me (from Isaiah 40): ” ‘Comfort, O comfort, my people,’ says your God. ‘Speak kindly to Jerusalem; and call out to her, that her warfare has ended, that her inquity has been removed, that she has received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.’ “
Her: Is this what you guys read in grown-up nursery at church?
Me: Yes. Be quiet.
Me: “A voice is calling, ‘Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.’ “
Her: Read the part about monsters again.
Me: Pardon?
Her: Read the part about sea monsters.
Me: You mean the Psalm I just read?
Her: Yeah.
Me: I’ll read it when I’m done. Let me finish this.
Me: ” ‘Let every valley be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; and let the rough ground become a plain, and the rugged terrain a broad valley.’ “
Me: Get your hand out of your bottom.
Me: ” ‘Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’ “
Me: Get. Your hand. Out. Of your bottom.
Me: “A voice says, ‘Call out.’ Then he answered, ‘What shall I call out?’ All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.”
Me: Yosi, sit still.
Her: I’m just trying to snuggle.
Me: I can’t read when you’re laying on the page.
Her: Is this almost done?
Me: Yes.
Me: “The grass whithers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass whithers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.”
Her: I’m going to go to Mommy now.
Me: Get your hand out of your bottom.
And this is why I rarely get to read my Bible anymore.
Favorite. So. Amazing.
oh how i can relate!
i can so relate!
that is why i wake up several hours before them!
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