I woke up to my phone quite enthusiastically telling me it was 7 degrees outside. Shout out to Mother Nature for a feisty cold front in my area. I personally enjoy interesting breaks in the normalcy when it comes to weather. I often enjoy when a good storm rolls in, or when it’s a wonderfully breezy summer day, or –like today — it drops abnormally low.

Cold days like this are good for sitting by the fire, warm cookies, and observing all the changes the cold has made in our environment.

This week we have the two girls of a couple in my dad’s sunday school class. They are like family and even call my parents Aunt and Uncle, but we’ve never kept them for this long. Mind you, I am not the girl who majors in Child and Family Development, or has babysat five straight summers for every family in the area. I really enjoy kids, I promise, but I confess I had more than a short-circuited moment with the girls when we were stuck in the house all day yesterday.

It didn’t help that I was trying to be productive and get some design work done, girls chattering away. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy talking and asking questions, finding out what’s going on in their innocent and wondering minds, but not when I’m trying to focus. They also probably thought I was a terrible babysitter.

I did, however, realize something that I’m sure every parent who ever read this would agree with. Almost every interaction with a child is a chance to teach them something. A question about an idea, or element in nature, or even an attitude! It’s all an arena for teachable moments, and they should never be overlooked.

So I prayed about my attitude and my responses in just about every breathe, and I could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit quickening my spirit when I said something a little too sharply, or when it was a good time to ask a particular question.

The Holy Spirit, and mercy… such gifts.