One of the things I’ve learned since having boys is just how destructive they really are. Our four boys can walk past a wall and without even touching it, a hole appears in the wall! I’m not talking about a pinhole either. I’m talking a minimum golf-ball sized hole.

We have gone through every doorstopper known to man on the wall behind the front door. Not to mention, it’s been repaired 49.2 times.

The collective goal of the boys is to stick as many objects as they can through the holes. I know for a fact there are at least 9 matchbox cars, 113 Legos, 2 pencils, half of my silver spoons we eat off of (not to be confused with collectible silver spoons), and a small stuffed animal in one wall of our house. I’m not sure the boys realize they’ll never be able to remove those without causing massive destruction, in which if they succeed, I will disown them.

This morning as I was making oatmeal for breakfast, I came around the kitchen corner to see a silver spoon sticking out of one of these holes. Is it sad that I didn’t even blink? I’ve come to expect such things from….(spooky music plays in background) “the boys.”

I’m not sure why God saw fit to give us a slewful of boys to raise unless it was because I am not a drama mama. And in that case, I’m very thankful we don’t have six girls to raise. But boys. Holy cannoli. They are dirty, stinky, messy and they leave a trail of destruction wherever they go!

 Raising boys has been a challenge and we are only a tiny fraction of the way finished!

So two weeks ago, I was absolutely blown away by what happened when I gave a Bible to my six year old son.

Our homeschool curriculum arrived in a huge box one afternoon and as we ripped it open, excitedly seeking out the contents, we came across another children’s Bible. My daughters each have a Bible we gave them for Christmas one year after they were reading well and my son wanted one. I promised him a Bible after he learned to read so he has been working hard on reading. So with this extra Bible, I didn’t see why it couldn’t be the Bible for him.

I’m not sure what I thought he would do with it beyond bring it to church with him. I found out the very next morning. Long before the sun was up and my alarm sounded, I felt a tap on my arm. “Mama,” a voice whispered in my ear. “Wake up!”

I lifted my head off the pillow and forced one eye open. It was my son. He set his new Bible between us on the bed and whispered louder, “Get up, mama, let’s read my Bible before anyone gets up!”

“Go back to sleep, buddy,” I reached out, patting his hand. “When my alarm goes off, we’ll read your Bible together.”

“No, mama. You have to wake up now and we can sit on the porch swing out front and read my Bible together. If we wait longer, everyone else will wake up and our day won’t start off good.”

I threw the covers off and stumbled out of bed. “Fine,” I mumbled. “Let’s sit on the couch and read.”

“Mama, it has the be the porch swing,” he insisted. “Outside.”

We unlocked the front door, slipping through the crack, careful not to open it so far that it squeaked and risk waking the rest of the house up.

He ran ahead of me and jumped on the swing, patting the seat next to him. I lowered myself beside him and held his Bible. “Where do you want to start?”

He smiled. “In the beginning, of course.”

I cracked a smile and the Bible simultaneously. Letting my finger trace the page, I began reading. “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.”

He snuggled next to me following along every word as we read about the creation of the earth. The story never fails to amaze me. When God speaks, things happen. Light is created. Sky appears over water. Land, seas, and plants are created. God speaks and birds and fish are formed. God creates animal and people. On the seventh day, He rests.

So many things speak to me from this passage–God is a God of order and fashioned the world in six days with structure, order and purposeful preparation; God speaks and things happen; and then God rests.

And that’s what spoke most to me that morning. God rested. I don’t want to be so busy being frustrated with these destructive boys that I forget to rest and soak up God’s Word with them. I don’t want to constantly be reminding them to be mindful of their actions without spending time in God’s word with them.

See, we read the Bible as a family every night with few exceptions. The girls and I read a girls devotion together at some point during the day when the boys are napping or resting. But I don’t have a special quiet time with just the boys. The youngest three aren’t old enough for that yet but my oldest son….his heart is tender and desires to seek God’s face and read His love letter to us.

I was so consumed with my own heart of order and the clashing of little boy’s destruction in my home with my meticulous nature that I missed this. I missed how his little heart desires the Lord.

As we gently swayed back and forth in the porch swing that morning, I thanked God for this precious boy. He may accidentally knock over chairs or open doors too hard leaving holes in our walls but he loves the Lord and craves that quiet time with Him. And in that moment, my heart swelled with love and pride because my dream of being a mother was to raise kids who love the Lord and this precious little one woke early that morning and every morning since to spend time with our Saviour.

 Thank you Lord for holey boys and holy boys. Thank you for this little one’s precious heart that seeks You and desires to spend time with you in the early morning dawn. Thank you for allowing me to be his mom. I know nothing I’ve done has placed this desire in him but You alone have given him a heart that seeks You. I pray we’ll continue to seek Your face as we raise him and nothing will quench this fire He has for You. Protect him and use him to do great things for You. In Your Holy Name, Amen.