Guess who is wearing boots to church tomorrow!?!?? 🤷‍♀️😂 The toddler and I painted each other’s toenails and ya know what, I’m not embarrassed to admit she may have done a better job painting mine than I did of hers.

There was a time when I would refuse the “home mani/pedis” that my daughters so generously offer their old, tired mama. I’m grateful to have such sweet, loving girls but I also like to look down and see well manicured nails. I’m learning to let go though. I understand that the word “No” has a very important part of our daily lives, and they don’t need me to be their friend, they need me to be their mother, but I fear that one day I’m going to look back and regret too many of the “No’s” that I dished out.

One of these days they’re going to leave my home and I’m going to wish just once more that I had those freckled faces staring up at me as I held my breath in anticipation as they excitedly painted their own little masterpiece all over my toenails…….and toes. I’m going to wish for just one more pedicure, with tiny, sticky fingers grasping the sides of my feet….with more paint on my skin than on my nails. I’m going to miss that precious face staring up at me, wrinkling her nose with excitement.

I don’t want to think back on all the little things and wonder if I missed all the big things ….. because in the end it’s all the little things that are the big things. I spend so much of my day disciplining my children, today my “No” is going to be, “No, you pick which color.”

Besides, I have their attention when they’re at my feet. What better time to tell them about Jesus …….

“You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”     Deuteronomy 11:19 (ESV)

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