tree

My favorite pastime is laying in my hammock. It doesn't matter what I take to the hammock with me (iPod, books, gameboy, Mikki, whatever), I can be content for hours.

Last week, I was laying out there, listening to music, and watching my 7-year-old, Jimmy, play with the dog. I realized that I don't spend nearly enough time watching my kids play. It's amazing how relaxing that is.

While he was playing, my eyes wandered over to the tree I was under. That tree is huge. If it fell, it could easily do two backyards worth of damage. I couldn't help but think about how old that tree must be, and how many kids have run around it. Our house is as old as me, and I'm pretty sure that the tree is much older.

What struck me about it all is that my son, who is such an enormous treasure to me, became so small and insignificant right before my eyes. When I look at him, I ignore everything else in the universe, but when I see him in relationship to everything around him, I realize he is just a very tiny part of the world. To that big old tree, he is just another kid that's here today and off in college tomorrow.

Now, please don't go away with the idea that all I learned in this moment is that my child is unimportant. Far from it. In this moment of tree-gazing, I couldn't help but think about how God looks at me. The universe has been around for a very long time, and yet God sees me the way I see my kids. God knows I am just one person, full of weakness, who is only just a dot of the timeline of His creation, yet He's thinking of me right now. He's planning my future, watching my back, and making sure that I am well taken care of. Oh, and he has time to talk to me as well. I'm so spoiled.