I’m lying on the floor of my son’s room late at night again, with an aching back, trying to help him to settle to sleep. The rain and wind – which have been unseasonably wild all day – are lashing against the window. I’ve been grumpy, I feel tired and hungry, but as he quiets and I hear the sound of the rain and the ticking of the clock, I realise again the wonder of a small moment in a warm house with loved ones near.

Today was one of those days – I rushed in the morning; my back ached; the relentless rain made me cold; I had lots to do and not enough time… It was the kind of day in which it is easy to forget the sacredness of the ordinary.

Then I read this as I scrolled the internet:

Many times, the “ordinary comes alive” for me, when I have time to notice it, and yes, these are the things I want for my children: this wonder in the day-to-day; this magic in the natural world; this joy in the simple things; this loveliness and comfort of togetherness…

There are so many things I want my children to marvel at:

*I want my daughter to marvel at her own strength when she realises she just did something brave.

*I want my son to marvel at the MULTITUDE of friends and family who love him.

*I want them to feel the exhilaration of jumping in waves.

*I want them to pause and gaze at the flight of the buzzard overhead.

*I want my daughter to savour the perfect ripeness of a punnet of raspberries.

*I want my son to laugh and whoop as he rides in the tractor or watches motorbikes on the road.

*I want them to hold in their hands things they’ve grown themselves, things they’ve watched delightedly, flourishing from tiny seeds.

*I want them to find comfort in the warmth of the dog.

*I want them to understand the blessing that is a table full of food.

*I want them to spend time being curious about stories and people and God and nature and everything in between.

*I want them to find that in their struggles or sorrows there are those that will uphold them, root for them, hug them and spur them on.

Oh yes, let’s teach our children joy and wonder. Yes, let’s fill their hearts with gratitude and hope. Let’s grow children who know that they are enough, their quotidian lives are enough, that they are delightful just the way they are and that the simple, small things are there all around them, to discover and delight in, to take comfort from and find hope in.