Judah had been waiting anxiously for his name to be called at the final day of Vacation Bible School. Having his name called meant that it was his turn to get up, walk up to the front of the room, and pick a present from the table that was set up. And it wasn’t just any present, oh no. They were all in line with the theme of this year’s VBS: Superheroes. Judah’s most favorite thing in the whole wide world right after eating dessert and sword fighting with Daddy.
“Judah!”
Judah heard his name and stumbled forward still wearing his full-body Spiderman suit with matching mask and self-made cape. And then he stood there in front of the table. And he stood a little longer. And a little longer while other kids were coming up behind him picking presents left and right. After several attempts to pick a present he came running to me, tears streaming down his face. “I don’t know what to pick,” he wailed into my ear, genuinely sad about the fact that he could simply not decide.
I picked him up, carried him to the table, and chose something that I knew for sure would fill up his little superhero heart: Avengers tattoos. “Yes!!” came his relieved little voice as he grabbed the tattoos and held on to them tightly. Mama to the rescue.
Sometimes, I think it’d be nice to be a child again when faced with the huge mountain of making decisions. I’d like to just start crying, run to someone older and wiser, and have them just make the decision for me. Someone who loves me and therefore will pick only the very best option.There you go! That easy. Now go and plaster 15 tattoos onto your arm.
The last couple of days have been a whirlwind of making decisions concerning our departure to Africa. Rather, I should say making temporary final decisions that then change according to new information and turn into new temporary final decisions. And you know what? It has been very comforting that I do have someone I can run to when I just feel like crying in the face of all the options laid out before us. I have someone much older and much wiser, someone who loves me infinitely more than I could ever love my son and who knows exactly what’s best for us.
We have a good, good Father who wants to pick us up and make the choice for us. We just have to let him. And the result? A gift far beyond anything we could have picked ourselves. Yes, even better than 50 Superhero tattoos.