Monday, May 2, 2011

Who Am I? (And for that matter, who is Shammah?)

I'm Clara; I'm married to Philip (Ever seen or read Jane Austen's Emma? Ok, think Mr. Knightly meets the Marlboro man...except he doesn't smoke, or advertise cigarettes. But he's an amazing combination of sweetness, tenderness, and tough manliness. A cowboy that can break wild stallions, then come in the house and do laundry and play beautiful songs on the piano - while still wearing his spurs. More on him later.)


We have 3 little girls, ages 2, 3 and 4, who are so hilarious and witty and entertaining that I could take up a whole blog just writing about the funny things they do. (Which is probably exactly what I'll end up doing here.)


Now, to explain about Shammah. (Sorry, I couldn't get a picture of him). If you read in the Bible in 2 Samuel 23:11 and 12, you'll read the story of a man named Shammah. The Philistines were attacking God's people, and they came to a field of lentils. Apparently no one, except for Shammah, considered the field of lentils something to risk their lives over. The verse says "the people fled from the Philistines." But Shammah "stood in the midst of the ground, and defended it, and slew the Philistines: and the LORD wrought a great victory."! Standing his ground and slaying Philistines, to protect some lentils.  I remember when I was a little girl, my Dad had the word "SHAMMAH" hanging on his office wall in big letters. I asked him why he had it there, and he put his arm around me and told me the story of Shammah, and said: "I have it there to remind me that the little things are important." And right there was one of those little things: A father taking the time to share a special moment and teach his little girl something, instead of just shooing her away so he could get something done. Every day is made up of little moments. It's so easy to rush through them in an effort to get to "the things that matter". We hurry the kids through breakfast so  we can "get on with the day"; we count down the minutes til naptime so we can "get something done" while they sleep. We tell them "just let me get this done quickly" when they want to help us with something. Meanwhile, all those little moments that should be savored and enjoyed are just "gotten through quickly" because we have "important" things to do. I want to slow down. I want to enjoy my children while I have them. I want them to enjoy me. I want them to look back on their days and remember not just time passing, but days full of moments. I want to remember the importance of the little things.


P.S. This post is not meant to belittle lentils. They certainly do have their place of importance, especially paired with rice in a delicious Lentil Rice Casserole! 

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