Have you ever thought about how the pandemic has affected our children? As a mom of two (soon to be three), it's a topic that's always on my mind. The ability to be back in school this year has been wonderful for my kids. While my youngest's in-person learning days were reduced by two days a week this year, she's so happy to be in school, and is absolutely thriving. 

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of recording some music for the NC Synod with my dad. What we needed to accomplish would only take twenty minutes tops, so I popped over to the church with Beanie around 2 pm. When we drove up to the church, Bean's eyes lit up. 'Do we get to go inside!?' she squealed. My kids have been to church once in the past year, for B's First Communion back in September. I was nervous about attending that service with them, and we didn't even go to in-person Christmas Eve services. For our family, not attending church has been hard, and a rather big deal. We have always practically lived at church, and to not spend our Sundays there has felt so strange.

Eventually, we began to think- gosh, it's sort of nice to have 'Sundays off,' and I didn't quite realize just how much my kids missed going to church. When we walked into the sanctuary of the church, Bean's eyes widened, and she acted like she was seeing it for the first time. It put things into perspective for me in a big way. It's amazing the little things we take for granted, and if we've been shown anything through the past year, it's to appreciate the little things. This little thing was a big thing for my four-year-old, and we'll continue to treat it as a big thing going forward.

This Sunday, we'll head to in-person worship as a family for the first time since early September. It'll be Palm Sunday, and we'll wave our palms high, with our masks on- but we'll be in our usual place, and we'll be together, allowing the majesty and wonder of it all to wash over us, along with God's goodness.

What kind of simple blessing have you experienced recently?

Be blessed,