Tonight I watched the girls together in the tub.  Tess sat happily in just a few inches of water, talking non-stop to Ellie.  I couldn’t make out the particulars of the conversation, but they were engrossed.  Ellie seemed to really be listening, hanging on Tess’s every word but the moment the younger sister started to splash, Tess shrieked with laughter and joined in the fun without missing a beat.

“Plash! Plash! Plash!” she giggled to her sister.  Ellie giggled back.

When Tess drenched Ellie’s head so that she could be the one to wash her hair, little sister didn’t make a peep.  Instead, she sucked the water on her lip and chanted, “Mmm-oh! Mmm-oh! Mmm-oh!” while she signed “More.”

If was a carefree yet carefully choreographed dance between the two of them and I was a privileged observer.  In their interaction I was given a glimpse of God’s providence.

“See?” I heard Him whisper. “See how beautiful this is?  Does it not surpass your greatest plans?’

It is true.  I always think that I know exactly what will be, how things will turn out.  I like it to be that way so that I can keep things in control.  I thought I knew what being a family would be like, but time and again, I am surprised and awed.  The way the kids interact and love one another – even when they fight as fiercely as cats and dogs (which they did a lot of today,) – leaves me breathless.  Most of the time it’s from sheer exhaustion that I cannot catch my breath, but the other times, moments like tonight, it is simply stolen or knocked clean out of me.

It is so very beautiful.

Thankfully, I could see it tonight and recognize that God truly gives us more than we have need of.  I needed that reminder today as I struggle with trusting in His  providence.  He is so good to show me in the joy of my girls how He has it all in hand, better than I can imagine.  It gives me hope that there is more good in store, more beauty around the corner that I can’t wait to discover.  And, thanks be to God, I don’t have to do it alone.