This Moment

We had a little fire tonight. Just a little one, with a few bags of trash. Then one thing led to another, and suddenly we had a little ring of excited children with improvised sticks and old, sticky marshmallows. There was a tray with graham crackers, chocolate chips and a water bottle. We also had one mother. She was a slightly cranky mother, with edges of navy-est blue. A mother who's day had been spent with lots of ugliness in her heart and tears on her cheeks. The evening was perfect, the air lovely and the shadows beginning to lengthen. The mother thought she would have liked to enjoy the delicious peace all by herself! But as little faces beamed, marshmallows browned, and fingers turned sticky she found that wasn't really what she wanted at all. As her shoulders relaxed, her fingers uncurled until her palms lay open and empty before her Father. And as the little fire danced, all the ugly slipped out and peace settled in. Because *this* was really what she wanted after all... this life, this moment.