Like a little child

“Grammy! I help you!” she said with enthusiasm.

I was surprised, but thought it was sweet.

After retrieving a chair she could stand on, she didn’t climb up, as I expected her to.

Instead she ran over to where we keep our aprons.

“Can you get me that one?” Her little sweet voice displaying her excitement at getting to help.

Auntie had bought her an apron for when they cook together and Faye remembered it.

Faye turned with a big grin and announced, “Like you, Grammy!”

I took it down and put it over her ballerina dress, making a bow with the ties.

Bubba, came round the kitchen island and watched me putting the apron on Faye.

“Me too, Grammy?”

I shook my head and told him I didn’t need more than one helper at a time, while mentally making a note to get another apron.

Instead, I let him wear the hot mits, which he did gladly.

He suddenly turned them into some sort of animal by adding a roar and trying to “chomp” his sister with them, which she responded with a shriek of laughter and ran out of the room.

Despite this minor interruption, she soon returned, climbed up, and asked for something to wash with.

I had set a large metal bowl in her side of the sink and handed her a dish rag.

She happily swirled, scrubbed, and rinsed the rag eventually getting the bowl pretty clean.

By that time I’d finished with my dishes and decided we should scrub the sink with baking soda.

I sprinkled a liberal amount around, showed her how it needed to be scrubbed, and then let her use the spray nozzle to rinse it all down.

When she was finished, she climbed down, dried her hands on a dish towel and went to play.

Luke 18:17 KJV — Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.

I’m not surprised at Jesus’s words when I watch my grandchildren.

They are enthusiastic about life, teachable, affectionate, trusting, and so ready to join in with whatever we are doing.

The ordinary is thrilling.

They have no room or thought for the mundane, it doesn’t exist.

Apathy isn’t part of their vocabulary nor their hearts.

Yes, they are selfish and self focused, but far more playable are their hearts to learning what is right, true, and good.

They inspire me to be enthusiastic about life and challenging me to be:

Teachable, affectionate, trusting, and focused upon my Father.

Reminding me to:

Pattern myself after my Lord and Savior.

Put on the garment of salvation which He paid for.

Blot out apathy, rejoice in the ordinary, and renaming the mundane: opportunity.

What a great gifts God has given me!

That I have His Word and Holy Spirit to train and guide me, and His gift of children and grandchildren who bring me inspiration.

Matthew 18:1 KJV — At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

Matthew 18:2-5 KJV — And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, 3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.

Dear Lord Jesus,

Thank You for Your salvation. Thank You for Your Word. Thank You for showing me so many things through Your scripture in my every day. Lord Jesus, please continue to help me become as a little child, humble, loving, open, teachable. Lord, please help me to be an example of You to both my children and grandchildren. Help me to be a virtuous woman like that in Proverbs, speaking truth, generous, hospitable, industrious, wise. I want to encourage them and live a life to bring You glory, a life that inspires my children and grandchildren to love You. Please be with each one, guide, direct, and hone their hearts, that they might walk in Your ways all their days. Lord, thank You for Your many gifts and blessings. Thank You for Your faithfulness. Thank You for Your love. In Your name I ask these things, Jesus. Amen.

Precious moments

This moment happened when our daughter and her littles were staying with us.

Our son-in-law was working out of the state and since our daughter is still experiencing a lot of morning sickness, we offered for her and the grandbabies to stay with us while he was away.

One afternoon, our youngest grandbaby was just falling asleep.

She’s getting big, now that she’s a year old, and my arms needed the support of my rocking chair.

I moved it to the middle of the floor so as not to squish any toys.

Our Faye, came out of the play room and saw me rocking Joy.

She surprised me by turning around and running back into the play room.

I soon heard her moving a piece of furniture.

She drug the child-sized rocker from the play room and set it next to mine.

She disappeared back into the room and came out cradling a stuffed teddy wearing a diaper.

She announced, “I’m rocking my baby too. He’s tired and needs a nap.”

All smiles, she plopped down next to me and looked up with such an expression that brought tears to my eyes.

When her mommy came from the other room, I requested she take a picture of us.

Not just to preserve the memory, but to be a reminder.

A reminder to think before responding, because I also had a moment of embarrassment while they were with us.

It was their last day and I was trying to help them get things packed up.

Our puppy had been struggling to behave himself, especially that morning.

His excitement at the bustle and business was to let his bladder run wild.

(Imagine my horror as he left rings of urine around our grandchildren when they stepped onto the back deck!)

Obviously, I wasn’t impressed.

So, Basil had to be locked up.

Understandably, he was very loud in his protests of this.

Continuing noise drives me crazy, so his whining/barking was making my skin crawl and I was struggling to hear the requests of my daughter and grandchildren over the din.

I’d tried talking to Basil nicely several times, but the minute I walked away he’d start again.

I finally had it and told him to, “Shut up!”

He did.

I resumed my tasks and when our daughter came back inside from putting a load in the Suburban, she looked at me with a strange expression.

“Umm, Mom, did you yell at Basil or something?”

I nodded, not proud of myself and she pointed at her son.

He was playing at the coffee table with a metal car and saying something, but I hadn’t stopped to listen, assuming by his tone and actions he was talking in his play.

So, I stood still and listened.

“Shut up, Basil. Shut up, Basil. Shut up, Basil. Shut up, Basil,…”

I apologized to my daughter and then spoke to Bubba.

“Honey, Grammy should not have said that. It’s not nice.”

“It wasn’t kind to say, ‘Shut up’. You shouldn’t say it either.”

“Grammy is very sorry for saying something not nice.”

He studied my face.

“Will you please forgive me?”

He nodded.

“Please don’t say that any more, okay?”

He nodded again.

Both moments with my grandchildren are precious; they are a reminder to apply truth to my behavior.

Children are especially quick to duplicate our actions, our attitudes, and our choices, but it’s not just children that are influenced by us.

People are affected by how we speak, what we say, how we respond.

We never live in a vacuum, where our actions don’t have consequences.

Thus, the moments in life are precious, because each one is an opportunity.

An opportunity to live unto the Lord Jesus.

I love that through Jesus Christ each person can be made new, and that the process of being made in the likeness of Christ is a daily one.

And since all of us have moments we regret, let’s find peace through Jesus’s forgiveness and courage to live differently, no longer doing those things which we are ashamed of, but rather being renewed.

that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
Ephesians 4:22‭-‬24 NKJV

Dear Lord Jesus,

Thank You for Your Word. Thank You for Your gift of children! What blessings they are! Lord, thank You for the innumerable ways You teach me and hone my heart. Lord, I am ashamed of myself and the poor example I was to my grandchildren. Thank You for Your forgiveness and for teaching me through this. Lord, please keep me on a short leash, that I might not grow accustomed to any sin and allow it to become a lifestyle. Lord, help me to build my relationship with You and others that I might honor You in all things. Lord, thank You for showing me so many things as I walk daily with You. Lord Jesus, please continue to teach me Your will and guide me through Your Word. I love You, Jesus. Thank You for first loving me. Amen.

Learning from example 3

Life doesn’t follow the paths we think it should or will.

God has His own design and He promises to be with us.

Yet more than once, I’ve found myself wondering what the path ahead of me holds.

Those moments when I look up and ask the Lord, “What now?”.

Infact I’m living one of those moments.

I love the way Ruth handles herself when she arrives in Bethlehem.

It isn’t recorded if she spoke to the women of the town.

Nor what her feelings were when they arrive.

What is recorded: her willingness to do the task at hand.

“And Ruth, the Moabitess said unto Naomi, ‘Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace.'” Ruth 2:2 KJV

Ruth lived in a time when an unmarried woman had very little ability to work.

Yet God had placed it in the law that the fields when harvested could be gleaned by the poor, as well as the corners.

It was back breaking work and more than likely dangerous since she was a foreigner.

Yet Ruth went out and worked in the fields.

She didn’t know how God was going to care for her and Naomi, but she was willing to do what she could.

She was humble.

She was hard working.

She was willing to do whatever needed to be done.

How can I learn from her example?

What would God want me to apply from Ruth’s life?

Where might the opportunity be for me?

I can remember and be encouraged by Ruth’s story of faith.

I can look for the tasks at hand and do them diligently with joy, knowing God is Who I’m working for.

Where each opportunity God has for me is in His hand.

These are the best things I can learn from Ruth’s example.

Learning from example 2

The story of Naomi takes an interesting turn.

After her husband and sons die in Moab she hears: “that the LORD had visited His people by giving them bread.” Ruth 1:6b

How often do we realize our provision comes directly from God?

Yet Naomi received word of this in another country.

She knew.

It was time to go home.

It was time to return to the Promised Land.

It was time for her to live again in the “House of Bread”.

So she begins to prepare.

She leaves the place she was in and heads back.

Yet she’s not alone.

Naomi has 2 daughters-in-law who have nothing, but the memories of their husbands.

She urges them to return to their families and start over.

We know from other parts of Scripture these 2 women would have been given the knowledge of the LORD when they married Noami’s sons.

Both of them were now faced with a choice.

Naomi lays out her perspective: return to your family and your old way of life and look for a new husband who will provide children and a future for you.

Naomi tells them she is unable to provide anything for their future, unable to give any glimpse of another beginning for them if they return to her land.

Orpah listens and chooses to go back to all she knew before.

In this she was choosing to go back to idolatry and to probably marry an idolater, to raise children in this same line.

Why?

What caused her to turn away from serving the One True God?

We don’t know.

But we can learn from her choice.

Orpah is not seen again.

What happens to her from this point on isn’t recorded.

But her final choice to be read again and again for centuries is that she chose to go back instead of following after truth.

How sad.

Yet even in this there is hope.

We can learn from her.

We can choose to follow no matter how bleak the path ahead looks.

We can hold fast to the truths of God and turn our back on selfish motivations.

We can learn from her poor example, not to stray from the One True God.