Surprise

Last night I did something that I rarely do. Except for parties and special circumstances, I’m pretty strict about keeping the children’s bedtime. Which just happens to be 7pm (remember, my children are 5 and 2). Which means the “night night” routine starts right after dinner. But not last night. We invited our friends to stay for dinner after they brought the children back from a play date. After dinner I asked the children, “what would you think if we all jumped in the pool RIGHT NOW?” They all screamed and ran to get on their suits. I even did a cannonball to get the party started and the kids swam right past their bedtime. It was a blast. I was thinking that if we did this every night, it would not have been such a special surprise. Just as much as I loved surprising the children last night, I know God loves to surprise us.  I remember praying with a friend once and asking God to surprise him in that day. After I said, “amen,” he said that he had enough going on in his life and didn’t want any surprises. I thought that was sad. I think that God delights in surprising us and showing us things and blessing us in ways we never thought possible. Are you open to being surprised by God? Are you so focused on your schedule and routine that the unexpected is not welcome? Remember, if it happened everyday, it wouldn’t be a surprise! But God just might have something special to bless you with today in the midst of your everyday routine.

P.S. my children still woke up at 6:15 am regardless of the late night swim.

So we will be in bed at 7pm tonight!