I’m grumpy in the morning. Most nights Breena and I wake up several times to either comfort the kids, give Zeke a bottle, or change his diaper. So, naturally, when the kids wake up at 6:00 am chipper and ready to go, we’re not. And I’m especially grumpy when I’m tired.

This morning I had to apologize to the kids for being mean. Sometimes I’m a bigger baby than they are. Eisley and Cyrus are both very gracious and forgave me, then wanted to give me multiple hugs and kisses. What a glorious picture of grace!

I opened up the Bible and read a single verse from Philippians to them: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, Rejoice!” I explained to the kids that rejoice means that we’re happy about Jesus, and we say, “Praise the Lord!” We practiced that several times while simultaneously throwing our arms in the air.

When Cyrus gets angry he says, “My eyebrows are down”, and he furrows his little brow. Eyebrows down, apparently, is the angry face. But I told them that rejoicing is when our eyebrows are up, and Cyrus said, “My eyebrows are way, way up”, while lifting his eyebrows almost to his hairline.

For me, this is one of those verses that is easy to understand but very hard to do. I’m not naturally a glad person. When my kids wake me up at 6:00 am my first thought isn’t, “Praise the Lord!” But maybe that just means I take them for granted. After all, isn’t it praiseworthy that they survived the night? And that nobody snuck into our house and stole them away?

Rejoicing is a matter of perspective, and I can see much clearer when my eyebrows are way, way up.