{sitting next to God}

Landon was sick when we picked him up from school on Monday.

Legitimately sick.

He had a fever and the poor guy threw up once. But after passing out on the couch like a frat boy who had way too many beers {shirtless, sprawled across the cushions}, he seemed on the mend the next morning. 

He went through the school day on Tuesday just fine, but on Wednesday I got a call around 11:00 saying that he was sick and needed to be picked up. 

His belly hurt.

But I could tell when I picked him up that he was fine. At least physically. 

We went home and made a little camp out on the couch with his pillow, favorite blanket, and the old calculator I gave him to play with the other day...

He is in LOVE with this calculator. It is solar which makes it even more cool than other toys of the battery-powered variety. 

He didn't have a temperature or display any other signs of illness so I asked him a bunch of questions about school, worried that someone was being mean to him. After a little prying I realized that he was just anxious...missing home and the comforts of being with mom and dad. 

Oh how I know that anxiety. I still have it, and it makes my belly hurt as well. 

I've come up with some fail-proof methods to dispel it from my brain and my intestinal area... 

Deep breaths.
Doodling.
Prayer.

It hurts my heart to think that my precious almost six-year-old little boy is feeling that way.

So last night as the boys were splashing together in the tub {those days are numbered}, he started to tear up and tell me he didn't want to go to school tomorrow. I gave him a little pep talk and explained what I do when I'm anxious or sad. 

I told him to take a deep breath...to remember that Ben is with him...to look to his teacher for help. 

"AND tomorrow is gum day!" I reminded him. "You can't miss that."

And then I told him to say a little prayer if he wanted, because God would be with him and help him.

He looked at me a bit surprised, like that sounded too easy.

Even though we talk about God often and how he is always with us, that is a hard concept for a five-year-old brain. Especially Landon's...my little daydreamer. His head is always up in the clouds so you would think God would be an easy concept for him. ;)

Ben...my tiny theologian...got it right away. Yes! God is around us like the wind! Like a friendly ghost!

"I think God is sitting beside you right now, Momma!" he said. 

I was kneeling next to the bathtub, knees damp from the towel I put down to catch their drips and splashes, edges of my sleeves wet from pouring buckets of water over their heads to rinse off the shampoo suds. 

"Yes," I told him. "God is definitely sitting beside me right now." 

Aren't we lucky that He shows up in the ordinary places? 

I have a feeling He is sitting next to Landon at lunch today. 

XO,