Open your eyes!

I love the sounds of children playing. The soft ticking of duplo blocks being put together, the light rumble of dice falling and the sound of paper being colored to shreds. As a mom I know no greater bliss than children who can play endlessly.

But my kids don't like duplo blocks, they think games are 'dull' and as for coloring: they've been there, done that and got the t-shirt.

As I was mourning my children's lack of playing skills I suddenly heard the sound of child's play: 'Boing boing, 'Tsk, tsk, tsk' and 'bleep bleep bleep.' They were the sounds of my children playing on their Nintendo endlessly and playing games on the computer.

As I was wishing for my kids to play for hours on end I missed the fact that they already do. Only not as I thought they should.

So not only do you have to be careful what you wish for, you should look around you to make sure your wish hasn't already be granted and you've missed it.

This reminds me of the story by Annie Lamott in her book Traveling Mercies:

A man is sitting at a bar getting drunk in Alaska. Hes telling the bartender about how he recently lost his faith in God after his twin engine plane crashed in the tundra.
'Yeah,' he says bitterly, I lay there in the wreckage praying with all of my might and crying out to God to save me, and he didnt raise a finger to help me. I'm through believing in a God who doesnt care about what happens to me.'
'But youre here talking to me,' says the bartender, 'You were saved.'
'Yeah, that's right,' says the man, 'because finally some Eskimo came along. . .'

So now I remind myself every day to open my eyes so I can see and hear God's messages.