When our girls were babies, we spent a good amount of time getting them to sleep (neither were great sleepers when they were little), and maybe that’s why we also spent a good amount of time watching them as they slept. Sure, there were the typical parent-related influences in checking our girls when they were sleeping, all those fears of maybe there being something wrong causing you to peek in at those tiny little sleeping forms. But there’s also that sense of wonder as you marvel at this small person who is now a part of your world, a part of your life. Watching your baby sleep is like receiving a whisper from the Creator; it is a small glimpse of the sacred here in this world, on this side of eternity, and it fills a parent with awe in so many ways.
As they grow older, I still seek out those sacred glimpses in our now teenage girls and their lives. The can be small moments scattered here and there in my days, watching them draw, listening to them laugh (their laughter has always been nothing short of an experience of both wonder and joy, from their first laugh up until today), sharing time with them watching our favorite eaglets on the on the Big Bear Valley Bald Eagle Nest cam. Truly, these two incredible young women are no small part of what transforms my seemingly ordinary days into extraordinary ones.
Perhaps one of my favorite whispers these days is not so much watching my babies sleep, but hearing how the lives of these young women influence and impact those around them, hearing from those outside of our family how these girls are growing in so many remarkable ways as well in the smaller and more subtle ways.
For example, our youngest has started volunteering with her dad at a weekly program at the church where my husband is the minister of traditional music. The program is for older folks and our youngest went with my husband last week; she and those she served and those she worked alongside had a wonderful experience. When your kids go off and do things that don’t include you, it’s always fun to hear what others have to say about them.
In recent weeks, people who are not me and therefore have not as much of a reason to applaud or laud our girls, still have shared such joy-filled assessments of time spent with our teenagers. From hearing about my youngest’s sense of humor and how she can make people laugh to how helpful my oldest can be offering to assist someone with a task to how insightful each is becoming in their mental health journeys. Perhaps it is my recent fascination with sacred journeys, like the pilgrimage many take along the Camino de Santiago, that has me considering the paths we take through life and how those paths, our journey, shape who we are.
I followed a writer on Facebook who, with his wife, just reached the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. His journey also inspired my husband and I to rewatch the Emilio Estevez film, The Way, also based on one man’s journey along the Camino. Perhaps, it is because I believe we are all walking a sacred journey that can at times appear like mundane days strung together and so we lose sight of the wonder and the beauty and the adventure life truly is.
I guess that is why when I hear the whispers of others who speak into my teenagers’ lives and who also provide small sacred whispers about their lives, I treasure those in my heart as much as those moments watching them sleep when they were but babies. My hope is that one day each of these delightful young women will see themselves as the sacred masterpieces they truly are and that their journeys will continue to shape them in truth and with wonder. For now, I will continue to collect those glimpses for them, and share them with them along the way. And, yes, I will also occasionally peek in at them as they sleep and marvel at the sacred beauty God has placed in my life.