The front row

We sat in the front row at church this morning.  It wasn't by choice.  We aren't 'back row Baptists' or anything, we just usually stay around the middle; to the left, actually.

But this morning we had were blessed to sit up front.  There was a combined worship service to vote on a new pastor, it was Graduation Sunday, and it was packed.  So we looked around and no other seats were available.  It felt like we were sitting in someone else's seat.

Interestingly, though, as I sat down on the front row and started looking around,  the flowers seemed just a bit more vibrant up close.  They were beautiful; goldish yellow calla lilies purposely placed on a black cloth.  After a few moments, I could see the black and gold theme for graduation and the effort someone took to put it together.   I don't think I would have noticed or appreciated that if we hadn't sat in the front row.

Even the lights seemed brighter, the speakers more clear, and the whole service...well, more intense.  Granted, there was excitement in the air as we anticipated hearing the man who is to become our new, dearly searched for pastor.  It is like a new beginning in our church, a new chapter, and we had a front row seat.

As the graduates of 2011 walked down the aisle, a picture show revealed their progression from babies to young adults to graduates.  Our youth pastor spoke to them, quoted scripture, and got choked up..... which got me choked up.  And from the front row, I could see his tears glistening as he hastily wiped them away. 

I started thinking about my own 'graduates'.  Now, because we homeschool, the experience is a bit different from traditionally public or private schooled kids. 

However, my eighth grader has just 'graduated' from 'middle school' and will be in 'high school' this fall.

(It seems like it was just yesterday I was kissing her 'bee-owies'.)

My 5th grader has just 'graduated' from 'grammar school' and will be going into 'middle school'.

 (She is my snuggler and just barely fits in my lap now.)

And my littlest just 'graduated' from 'pre-school' and will start 'Kindergarten' this September.

 (Honestly, I just gave birth to her....she can't be nearly five already...)

We even had a Homeschool Award Ceremony last month.

Time is going by at warp speed.  There are so many things I still want to share with my girls, things I want to tell them and show them, do with them, and teach them. 

  "“Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.  You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up."  Deuteronomy 11:18-19 (NKJV)

So many things I am still learning too.

I can only imagine how those mommas felt watching their own babies children in the same pictures I watched up on that screen.

As a homeschool mom, I have a front row seat.    And time is going by quickly.  Too quickly.

I don't want to miss a thing.

And I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Today, I am grateful for the front row.