Serena was satisfied.
This was one of those days she was thankful that God knew her heart, because she didn't know exactly what to pray.
She looked across the lawn at her boys, who were running and kicking a soccer ball with glee. Nothing else mattered in their world right now, except this moment in time.
How and when did adults stop being so in tune? Specifically, how and when had she?
She turned her gaze toward the sky, which was a clear azure blue, peppered with a cloud here and there. When had she stopped fully trusting God to paint the scenes of her life just as perfectly?
She rounded up Jaden and Jacob and hustled them inside for a potty break. Usually she fought with them to lie down and take their nap. It took at least thirty minutes to get them settled and another thirty before they were snoozing.
Today, though, she heard God clearly.
Rest.
After a light snack, she surprised the boys by taking them into her bedroom and lying between them.
"Naptime, guys; close your eyes."
Without a whimper both of them did. They snuggled close to her and, within minutes, both were sleeping soundly.
Serena thought about the dishes waiting for her in the sink; the bills on her desk that needed to be paid; the carpet she had planned to shampoo today.
This brief reprieve was when she usually played catch-up on the chores. But the stark revelations of the past month lingered with her. So did the blessings from the picnic she and Micah had hosted two weeks ago.
She hadn't flirted with selling her body like Tawana, or lost her life to preserve a fancy facade like Bethany. Yet just the same, she had been in danger of losing part of herself to something more sinister—to doubt and envy and the desire to be somewhere other than where she was right now.
She knew she didn't want to look back at these crazy, but tender, years with her family and find them a blur. She didn't want that to be the case with her relationship with God, either.
She thought about what she did want, like this baby squirming in her belly, her husband's deep kisses, and the scent of love that seemed to be ebbing and flowing in the lives of her friends and family. She wondered what kinds of pearls each of them was in the process of becoming.
Only God really knew, and for her, that was enough.