'good night i love you'

i wanted to start with this- the amazing sky.  that ball of bright hot pink, the paleness of the surrounding sky, the dark edges of the leaf silhouettes.  it called me outside to stop and remember a bigger place than my noisy living room at 6:35.  it spoke of the huge world- the millions of people who look at that same ball in the sky- from their rooms where ever they are.  it spoke of the stillness and consistency of God.

that hour, that time, the end of a long day- even a great day, can be crazy.  kids are hungry and tired, parents are too, and dinner is being cooked and tables set and hands are asked to be washed.  then there are vegetables to be eaten by people who don't like vegetables, and meat by people who don't like meat.  there are napkins to be put in laps, and mouthfuls to be finished before questions like, "why are parents so bossy?" can be asked.  there is milk to be spilled and interruptions to be managed and dessert to be lost for being mean to siblings.  there are tables to be cleared and dishes done, baths drawn, teeth brushed, stories read, inhalers inhaled, and pampers put on (because last night somone wet the bed).  there are songs to be sung, and prayers prayed, and snuggles always, and 'goodnight i love you's' to be said- because that is really it.

after those crazy, spinney two hours of the sprint parenting- 'good night i love you'- and i really mean it even if i raised my voice or brushed your teeth too hard- is what matters.  'good night i love you'- even if you can never remember to lift the toilet seat before you pee (although there is now a sign).  'good night i love you'  - even if you're almost 13 and sometimes you really don't like me and i don't even know why. 

'good night i love you' and i always will- you can't out run it, out interrupt it, out sticky thought it, out spill it- i always will no matter what.  just like that sun set, it's still and constant and always.  some nights it might look different, or sound different- but no matter what- that is really it.

tonight God said it too with that sky.
'good night i love you'- and i always will.