✝️ Time for What Matters — Lighted Jesus & Family Table Clock

He’s so much better at these puzzles than I am. I keep handing him pieces that don’t fit, and he keeps giving me that look. 😂 I love hearing him laugh like this. Nothing special planned, nowhere we need to be—just the two of us at the table. Looking at that little family beside us, I feel grateful to God for an ordinary afternoon I could so easily have rushed through.

The strangest part of being sick was how quickly work carried on without me. I’d spent years feeling like I couldn’t possibly take an afternoon off. Then suddenly I wasn’t there, and things kept going.

At home, my wife noticed when I hadn’t eaten. My daughter remembered which blanket I liked. Those little things undid me.

I wish I could say I handled it all with faith and courage. I didn’t. Some nights I was scared and short-tempered. My wife would ask if I wanted to pray, and sometimes all I could manage was to hold her hand while she did.

That clock sits beside us now. I still check the time out of habit. But lately, when my daughter asks if she can stay a little longer, I don’t look at it.

My son’s been so busy with work lately. I was happy enough that he’d found time to come over—I wasn’t expecting him to bring me anything.

When we unwrapped it, I noticed the family sitting around the table with Jesus. It reminded me of when he was little. We’d say grace, start eating, and he’d have so much to tell me that his dinner would go cold. I used to keep reminding him to take another bite.

I mentioned that while we were opening the box, and we both started laughing. Before long, we were remembering things neither of us had talked about in years.

I love the gift. But sitting there with him, hearing him laugh and having time to talk again… I hadn’t realized quite how much I’d missed that.