I had an excessively sheltered childhood. I went to a church where my dad was an assistant pastor and worship leader, so we spent a lot of time at church. I attended a small private school in that same church building. My dad was the principle and my mom was his secretary so we spent a lot of time at school. We literally lived next door to the church. Our driveway was separated from the church driveway by a small barn and a little strip of grass. Growing up I spent more time at that church building than I did in my own home and I absolutely loved it. I have beautiful memories of helping my parents get ready for school events, falling asleep under the pews during church music practices, “helping” Dad prepare classrooms for a new school year, and a million other things that were part of our very full ministry life. This weekend I spent my Saturday evening at church helping my brother, our worship leader, make some updates to our stage set up. While he was moving wires and adjusting lights, I was running the soundboard and projection. We do this every few months and it’s usually a long night. This time was a little different because my 9 year old niece decided to join us. As I was watching her excitedly offering to help with everything we were doing, my mind drifted back to my childhood nights in the very same building. It felt almost holy watching this next generation doing the same thing, making precious memories while “helping” dad and doing her best to serve. Her life is no where near as sheltered as mine was but her love for being at church, especially late at night when the building is quiet, is something we have in common (just like our brown curls and our identical chins). My prayer is that she’ll always love the house of God. I pray that she learns that the beauty comes not from the building but from the people who populate it. I pray that she sees far more sincere godliness and less hypocrisy than I have and I pray that her heart to serve grows more tender and resilient. I pray that when years have passed and she looks back she will have precious memories of nights like this, just as I do. It’s easy to lose sight of sweetness when things are busy, when life is full of difficult situations, when there is an uncertain world and unknown future. However, life is lived in moments and even the worst of times can be filled with the sweetest days if we pause long enough to notice. I’m grateful for nights with my family, long past and just a day ago. God is good!