The other day we were running late for church. I had set the alarm thirty minutes early the night before to ensure that we would be up and on time since my brother and his girlfriend would be meeting us for worship service. As soon as the alarm clock went off, I was up and preparing a quick breakfast. I changed the babies diaper, fed him a morning bottle, and bathed him quickly. I picked out a precious outfit he wore for six month pictures and a little pair of white shoes. I quickly realized that his foot had grown some since the last time he wore the shoes so they were a bit snug. I broke down for a ten second emotional mommy moment asking myself how my baby boy could be growing so fast and thinking oh, dear God how I was going to miss these little piggies when they turned into big piggies!!

   After working the shoes onto his feet, we grabbed our things and were out the door with ten seconds to spare. As we were driving down the road, I begin to hear a chewing sound. My son had somehow managed to wiggle the shoes off of his feet and was gnawing on one of the velcro straps. (Yes! My son is teething and Yes! I do know that a shoe is not an appropriate teething toy!)  Aggravated and thinking of how much trouble it was getting his foot into the shoe in the first place,  I ask my husband: “Please tell me that is not his shoe!” He just laughed and said, “Yep!”  

   Knowing we would have to get the shoes back on his feet before we went inside for church service, I started to go on and on about how we were going to be late for church and that we are always somehow the last ones to go in on Sunday’s! That’s when J looked at me and said two words that really rocked my soul! He said, “Just Smile!” It is not the response I expected him to give as I sat there complaining. He could have told me to hush babbling and that he is just a baby. Right then, I couldn’t help but feel the corners of my mouth turning upwards and a grin slowly creeping across my face. We pulled up at church two minutes late and I said forget the shoes!! My sweet baby looked as dapper as ever in his white socks…one which was inside out!!

    Isn’t it awesome knowing when things aren’t necessarily going our way we can look up and smile knowing God has everything under control? I was so worried about being at church on time I was letting Satan steal the joy I feel on Sunday mornings! I needed a reminder that God didn’t care about us being late but our presence there was all that mattered.