(Camp of The Woods – 2009 Carnival)

But the siblings are starting to pick at each other a bit now.  Literally, a poke here and a poke there. A poke.  A scream. A becoming-frazzled mom. A summer break starting to set like the evening sun while a new school year dares to peak over the horizon.

Truth be told, the cherubs have done very well together all summer.  Jim and I delighted in how they have been lovingly playing together, enjoying each other’s friends, serving the Lord in new ways together, building puzzles together, learning new things together, doing morning devotions and cheering one another on during their special summer activities.

But, like an expectant mom rubbing her over-stretched belly during the ninth month of pregnancy, the increased sibling squabbling is signaling to me that it is almost time. Time for summer break to come to a close and the new school year to begin soon.   I don’t need the calendar to tell me that.  For the first time the other day, during a sibling squabble, I had the thought:  “It must be the middle of August…the siblings are squabbling…again!!”

They love each other dearly and care for one another deeply.  I’d like to think when they squabble with other it is because they know each other is a “safe place” for their transparency.  That may be true, but I can’t sugarcoat it.  They squabble because they are little sinners.  Cute, adorable, precious, saved-by-His-grace sinners.  And when their squabbling heightens to a more frequent pace this time of year, it’s a sure sign that summer break is nearing its end. 

So I am writing on the chalkboards of their hearts: “Yet I will show love…” (Hosea 1:7) That is what I want to teach them and model for them as their parent. When they get on each other’s nerves, “Yet I will show love”.  When both want their own way, “Yet I will show love”.  When crankiness oversteps gentleness, “Yet I will show love”.  That’s what saves us from ourselves – God’s love.  Not bow or sword or battle — not pokes or screams or taunts.  The Lord’s Love.

I am praying this momma reflects His love to them as summer closes and the birth pangs of a necessary new school year frequent themselves in our home.  Yet I will show love.  As we savor the sweetness of the last few weeks of summer and feel the warm afterglow of the season’s memories, that’s the prayer I want to quiet our hearts as a family.  Yet I will show love. “Yet I will show love…I will save them—not by bow, sword or battle…but by the LORD their God.” Hosea 1:7