A Box of Beautiful and Living in the Moment

There's a new coffee shop in my hometown. The baked goods are lovely. Delicious. But wonderful to look at, too.

I stood at the counter and chose a cupcake for each of my boys. There were a few different flavors. I selected with care. Chocolate peanut butter for a couple. Red velvet, with mounds of icing, chocolate, and gold flecks for another...The cupcakes were, one by one, removed from pedestal stands behind the glass.

And I brought them home in a cute, brown box.

The boys were grateful. I let Zay break the rules and he delved into his before dinner. Another son wanted to wait until after dinner. Another enjoyed his before bed.

But two cupcakes remained in the box. Two sons wanted to wait until they were just-the-right-amount of hungry. Until the timing was right. Until they could sit down, without distraction, and enjoy their desserts.

That was Friday. This morning I woke up, reached for the coffee pot, and noticed the brown box. The two cupcakes were still inside. I opened the box and pulled one out. It was still lovely to look at. But the icing was hard. The cake part was tough. The cupcake had gone crunchy and dry and the box is destined for the trash.

Makes me sad. The boys waited too long. They lost the blessing.

So now I sit and sip my coffee and watch the windows fill with morning gray. Another day is about to unfold. It will be wild (Lonny kept the boys out too late last night). It will be Monday-full. There will be homeschool lessons and laundry and running a boy to work. There will be packing lunches and packing basketball and Scouts into an already too-full day. There will be dinner-on-the-run because that's the order of our Mondays and by the end of it all we'll be grateful for our beds.

But there will be blessing, too. Sweet blessing. Blessing more lovely and sweet and beautiful than those cupcakes in a box. There will be smiles, hugs, opportunity to hold my boys tight. A moment to encourage. A moment to be encouraged. I can enjoy rumpling a head of fine, blond hair or the feel of a soft, small hand still folding into mine. I can treasure the swift hug from a boy-turning-man or even see goodness and life in the pile of shoes by the door.

There will be blessing.

I'll  just have to be wise enough, careful enough, willing enough, to live in the moment, to taste, savor, and enjoy.


Lord, help me to recognize and receive the sweet, small blessing You have for me today. Amen.