Kids with fevers, it’s all good, when they’re little

Our Youth Pastor and his wife have two young boys, age one and one-half and age three. They are real boys, active, busy, interested in anything that involves hitting, throwing, or running. For the past two days they have had a fever. At times the fever was pretty high, so the boys were understandably lethargic as their bodies fought the minor infections.
The pastor was teasing tonight about how great it had been over the past few days as the boys laid around, quiet, still and not needing much oversight. “It has been great!” he said rather loudly. He looked around at the crowd and asked, “What?” Everyone knew he was mostly teasing, but having raised seven kids through too many fevers to count, I can understand needing the break.
He laughed as some people were still processing his remarks and commented, “It’s all good.” And really it is all good. I hear that said very often at work when the discussion has been less than uplifting and someone needs to lighten the mood. It usually works well and as men do, we move onto the next subject. Like the old chief in Dancing with Wolves, when he says, “That’s all I have to say about that.” It’s a good cover.
Our pastor is a really good father, a great man to lead our young people, with a delightful sense of humor which can be a blessing when his two little ones are back to full power. So I can laugh, enjoy the humor and realize that really, it’s all good!
I am sometimes like my wife as she remembers with longing the times when our children were little. I remember an old saying my parents used to tell me in those days. When they are little they step on your toes. When they are older they step on your heart. Boy, is that true.
I never realized how quickly my toes recovered.