A perfect moment

This was a good morning; I didn't want to get out of bed though. I drifted in and out of a light slumber, one time to feel Maddie tickling my foot. I lay there for a minute and let her softly tickle it again. I wiggled my foot like it was too much. She giggled. Then she did it again. So did I. Again...her giggle. Finally, I crawled around my California King sized bed to where she was. She often sleeps with her head at the foot of my bed. (Yes, I have an 11 year-old who still sleeps in my bed...another post for another day.) Don't ask me why. It is one of those little idiosyncratic Maddie things I have come to simply accept. And it is that fact that makes me think of something I heard someone say that I think I believe and would like to expand more upon:

God gives us blessings and then God challenges us in and with these blessings to cause us to rise up to become the person we came to be.

I am too pressed for time this morning to adequately write my thoughts about this, so I will return with more, but suffice it to say now that Maddie has been the water that has eroded my rock and left--well not even a smooth space yet, but her life in mine is shaping me. And despite my ungraceful way of learning from her, that shape is beginning to show something a little more refined. I am grateful for her. And those are the words I whispered in my mind as I lay in her little arms this morning in the bed.

As I crawled around to her, she started to laugh and asked, "Did that tickle?" I answered, "Yes, you woke me up you turkey." She laughed again triumphantly. She lay next to me, holding me, stroking the back of my head sweetly. I said out loud, "This is a perfect moment." And it was despite the fact that both my arms were numb; I ignored that because it was her affection and actions that trumped any pain or discomfort I was feeling.

Thank you God for my little Maddie and the HUGE blessing and challenge she is in my life. I am grateful to have her, to see her for who she is, and to see myself with her and to grow from my relationship with her.