Window Shopping

I took the day off work yesterday to spend with my girls since school is out for fall break. Brenna has been asking for several weeks to go to our local mall. She has been saving up for something and thought she was ready to make her purchase.

Brenna and McKayla both loaded up their purses with the usual girly stuff along with the money they had saved, and we hopped into the car destined for the mall. Their main focus was on what they planned to buy and my main focus for today was just to be with them.

No agenda. No plan.

It was a great day. We entered and exited many stores without acquiring anything new. As the girls shopped for what they thought they wanted, their eyes were opened to the cost of things and how long it took them to save their money. Each of them decided she would rather save her money to use it more wisely later. I was excited that they made those decisions on their own and that I didn’t have to intervene or talk them out of something foolish.

We were gone for several hours and both of them came home empty handed. No big purchases, nothing new.

But – we still had a wonderful time.

Time.

That’s what was wonderful. Time. Time together without a plan. I love days that I can spend with them that way, and I wish we had those days more often. As we simply spend time together, they learn things about me, asking me questions, singing along in the car. I learn things about them too. Actually, this time I learned something new as a mom. I learned what it feels like for your child to be embarrassed to hold your hand in the mall. It’s a new phase for McKayla and certainly a new phase for me.

I learned that we actually can all three go shopping without one of them getting a spanking.

I was also reminded that even though I can’t buy them all of the things they want or that I might want them to have, we can still enjoy each other without spending a dime.

I learned that McKayla knows when happy hour is at Sonic.

I saw a glimpse of what it may be like someday when they are grown and we get together as mother and daughters simply enjoying one another’s company.

The girls understood the term “window shopping” by pure experience.


I could go on, but my point is, we learned all of those things merely spending time together.

Oh what I could learn about God by just spending pure, unplanned time with Him. No agenda other than experiencing Him with me. What joy it would bring Him and certainly what joy would bubble up within me. Instead, I often come to Him with my list, all of my cares, all of my struggles, and I shop for His answer. Isn’t it funny how all of the things I would bring to Him lose their significance in light of sitting at His feet?

That’s all He wants.

Me.

At His feet.

Spending time.

God, the One who loves me fiercely, time with You is priceless. There is nothing that compares. I beckon your presence today, I welcome You into my comings and goings. Ride in the car with me, sing the songs with me, enjoy the sunshine with me. Teach me something new about You. Give me the questions to ask so that I can discover something about You that I have never understood. Time. You, Father, never run out of it. You always have plenty of it to spend with me. I pray for a pull from within my heart to run to your feet, often, and then some more. I want to know You better than I know myself. I want to know your heart, and I certainly want to be accustomed to hearing your voice, whether it is in laughter, advice, or warning and that familiarity can only come from being with You. Forgive me, Jesus, for always coming to You with a plan, or for not coming at all. I want to know you so well that I would know what You would order at happy hour at Sonic! Thank you for loving me so simply, so purely, without an agenda. Just pure love. Only You are capable of such, and it is You who watches over my very soul.


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