Laura’s team played this morning in the semi-finals. Dad said I couldn’t watch because the game was happening during church. I didn’t make a fuss about it, but I had to control myself and wipe away tears. I texted and asked Laura’s mom if her husband was going to let her skip church to watch. She said she told him it was going to be very tempting to do so but that she would pray for strength. She’s a better a woman than I.

Their team ended up placing fourth overall. They had confirmation today during church. It really is sad anymore to watch confirmations, mostly just because it’s people you hardly even know. My first son’s class had something like 12 students. It wasn’t long before you weren’t seeing any of them afterwards. And on it goes down the line. It really can just make you want to feel indifferent to the whole thing and church in general.

But there was a prayer that came to mind when I was in the middle of thinking this. The prayer was, “Lord, I don’t understand this, but I am grateful for your mercy.” And I started feeling thankful, that thus far, God has kept my children in the faith. I don’t know how much I have given it much thought, but there are apparently those times before knowing when the Holy Spirit comes and directs our thoughts to better things.