the gift of mondays

i don't know him. this boy i have been praying for. but i don't have to know him.  i know his mom and that is enough. i know her smile and imagine his must be the same. i know her heart and know his can't be that far off. and i know her strength and imagine he must have some of that in him too. i know some of his friends in this small town we live in. i've heard the good stories. seen the nice posts. read the great memories. i keep updated on his status. his lupus struggles. his ICU visits.  and i pray for him. because i'm a mom and that's what moms do.  we pray. we hope. we dream. not just for our children but for our friend's children. for our neighbor's children. for the children we see and all the ones we never see. and we never give up.  and so we pass the word. and start prayer chains. and keep hoping, keep believing, keep praying that God will hear these mother's prayers, see these mother's tears, and k

we won't always know the plan. we won't always understand how everything will work out. we won't always think we can help. but Jesus always does. and He needs us to be willing to offer what we have without knowing the answers. in John 6: 1-15 we see Jesus feeding the five thousand. let's imagine ourselves there. let's imagine ourselves as disciples.  five thousand people are stretched out before us. they've traveled to hear Jesus speak. they're no doubt tired, and dirty, and hungry. and Jesus sees that. He feels it. He knows it. and He turns and asks Philip, "where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" "a half year's wages would not buy enough for each one to have a bite!", Philip declares. can we hear the surprise in his response? he's probably thinking Jesus has lost His mind. because Philip sees the never part of the problem. they could never do it.  and if we w