Blessed be the name of the Lord

The baby was squawking from her crib and I entered her warm room to get her. Mandy is a very loving girl and I always except a hug after her rests. As usual, she wrapped her arms around my neck and laid her head on my shoulder. It had been a busy and frustrating day, so I sat down to enjoy the love in the funny colored peach rocking chair with ink on the arm in the corner of her room. Even as she lay on me, I observed many different things I should be doing; there was the bottle of milk that lay upside down on the floor dripping hours old milk, 2 totes of baby clothes begging to be organized and put back in the closet, a laundry basket full of folded sweet girl clothes needing to be put into drawers, and there was Emma who burst into the room with a look on her face that said, "What are you doing giving love away to my sibling and not me?"

"We're just rocking. Do you want to sit with us?" I asked her. She thought about it for a moment. I could tell the independent 4 year old was thinking she didn't need this kind of entertainment, but she succumbed and climbed up on my lap for some reluctant rocking. She asked me to sing that Mocking Bird song so I did. I sang all the words that I could remember from that crazy tune and kept rocking. The girl's matching white blond hair tickled my chin as their heads rested on my shoulders and I felt love and contentment beyond anything of this world. The perfect feeling was helped by the warm peaceful room and the chair that rocked us was so comfy even though any interior decorator would have rejected it at least a decade ago.

I expected the moment of snuggling to be a fleeting one, so I soaked up each second. Emma said, "Sing more songs." I sang what came to my mind, from Silent Night to "I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart." It was like a bad 80' mix tape, but I kept singing and rocking and the girls kept snuggling me. I remembered a song from church, Blessed Be the Name of the Lord, and I sang that too. 

Every blessing you pour out I'll turn back into praise. When the darkness closes in Lord, still I will say, blessed be the name of the Lord.... you give and take away and my heart will choose to say, blessed be the name of the Lord.

My voice cracked as tears of thankfulness tightened my throat. I heard my voice wobble and I knew this was not a performance that would win any awards on earth. This moment of tenderness was a blessing in its purest form and the beautiful words to this song helped me turn my emotions and my busy frustrating day into praise to the Lord who gives and takes away.

Soon Mandy wiggled off my lap to go find the dripping bottle of old milk and Emma jumped down to play in the baby clothes I should have put away since she thinks they fit her doll. I wiped  the tears of happiness from my eyes and prepared to continue on, feeling completely renewed and blessed by our 10 minutes of rocking and singing. This was better than a jolt of caffeine from a carmel mocha or those yummy coffee beans that I was craving. Blessed be the name of the Lord.