"Soccer Mom"

Yesterday was our children’s last day of school for the 2007-2008 school year. We have a tradition each year on the last day–we always do something together as a family. This year we enjoyed a great lunch, filled with lots of laughs. Our daughter wanted to “hang” with her cousin Morgan in the afternoon, and my husband needed to get home to catch some zzzzs, as he had been working all night, so I left it up to our son to decide what we would do the rest of the afternoon…BIG mistake! 🙂

He wanted to go to a local park and play soccer at one of the park’s soccer fields. We did this a few times, just him and I last year and it created some great memories for both of us! So, we headed to the park. Me, in my flip-flops, shorts and tank top, and him in his soccer shoes, shorts and t-shirt…I was outmatched already! Kicking a soccer ball in flip-flops? Almost impossible…at least for me!

We took turns being goalie. When it was my turn, he had me running from one side of the net to the other, as I would attempt to stop him from scoring. The training he received all winter long obviously paid off! When it was his turn to be goalie, he didn’t have too difficult of a job…after all, I was in flip-flops (I’ll use that as my excuse)! I scored a few times, but nothing close to what he scored on me! We played for almost an hour, just the two of us in the sunshine, with the soccer field to ourselves. I will cherish yesterday afternoon forever.

As I think about our afternoon yesterday, I am reminded of a command God gave Israel in Deuteronomy, chapter 6. Verses 5-7: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”

I love spending time with our children, and because of my flexible work schedule, I am blessed to be able to do that a lot! Many times our conversations tend to lean towards God and what He’s doing in our lives. I don’t direct our conversations in that way, but it seems to happen just naturally. That happened again as we were playing soccer yesterday.

I consider it a privilege and blessing to be a “soccer mom,” a “softball mom,” a “volleyball mom,”…a mom! Even when I get beat at playing against my children! 😉