The early morning quiet in the kitchen can be deafening. But the quiet is not noticed by a mother who is considering…

While she lovingly spreads peanut butter for a sandwich that gets tucked into a paper bag for her sweet little boy to have for lunch, she enjoys thoughts of his smile and playfulness. She hears him giggling in the other room with his sisters. She won’t bother fussing at them to stop playing and get ready for school just yet; the sounds are bringing her too much joy to interrupt. The infectious sound of laughter turns the monotonous duty of sandwich making into a valuable motherly task.

At that all important peanut butter spreading, paper bag folding moment, her thoughts have turned to wondering how her sweet ones’ day will go. Will he do well on his spelling test? He certainly studied hard for perfection. Will his friends be nice to him and will they all play well together on the playground? Will the older boys on the bus leave him alone or will he be harassed and taunted; kids can be so mean, and she cannot stand for her children to get their feelings hurt. Her mind will wander to memories of pregnancy and birth and those precious moments during infancy. Her heart will ache that those days are gone forever. She will worry that he may not get enough to eat and will tuck in an extra quarter for a second carton of milk. She considers whether it will rain and get the paper bag wet, it would surely melt away and leave his lunch on the ground. She reflects on their mornings before they had school days, remembering how he could not wait to be old enough to go to school. A gentle smile caresses her face with a memory of his first day.

A sigh as she folds down the top of the paper lunch sack, a sigh that says, “oh how I wish I could go along.” Her thoughts are of dread as she must relinquish the safety of her sweet little one into the care of other adults – a whispered prayer will bring a peace to her heart that He is watching when she cannot. And a conflicted sigh of relief sneaks into her thoughts that the morning will soon be calm and she can have her coffee and devotions in quiet. A glance at the clock, her thoughts of bliss are abruptly interrupted by the sound of her own voice, “Time for the bus!”

A furry of noise, shuffling of feet, zip, zap, bang, splash, creeeek, hug, kiss, kiss, slam – a sigh, a hush – and back to her thoughts.

The silence can be deafening – but not while a mother is considering…