I had the pleasure of watching my 21-month-old
granddaughter for four and a half days. What a great week it turned out to be. Her
G-Pop and Gigi kept G-Baby busy most of the time. We took trips to the store, to
restaurants, to playgrounds and to Storyland in New Orleans City Park.
She is quite an independent girl
with no fear and an adventuresome spirit. She is a tough little girl. As we
went through Storyland, she was mesmerized by the fountains. She loves water.
She enjoyed the big dragon slide that she and her G-Pop slide down. As we stood
in the mouth of Pinocchio’s whale, she gave me a high five ad a big smile.
Even though the older boy in front
of her screamed in terror at the sight of the Big Bad Wolf, G-Baby scoffed
knowing there was nothing to fear. She
was enjoying walking around the inside of Cinderella’s pumpkin carriage when
she had a short temper tantrum because she did not want to get out and move on
to the next nursery rhyme scene. When she realized we were not concerned about
her tantrum she stopped and got out. If you are going to throw a tantrum, you
may as well do it in a huge pumpkin. It adds a little flair, but it is only good if someone pays attention.
Unfortunately, we often do the same
thing as adults. We do not get our way and decide to throw a tantrum. We may
not lay on our backs and fake cry, but we have different ways of handling
things. We may refuse to change even to our detriment, causing us to fall
behind. We may even go with the flow outwardly but hold bitterness inside.
Throwing a pity party seems like a good idea until you realize no one cares
about your pity. Not getting our way is never easy, but sometimes it really is
for the best.
One of the things that G-Pop and
G-Baby enjoyed doing together was just taking a walk around the block. She
would hold my hand as we walked. Where I went, she went. Occasionally, she
would release my hand and venture out. That bright yellow car was very pretty and she would check it out with or without G-Pop. G-Pop just let her go
but watched her carefully and from nearby to make sure she was safe
She would eventually grab my hand
again. Soon afterward, a five to ten pound puppy came up and jumped on her wanting to lick her
pretty, little face. She did not let go
of my hand, and she was happy to see and pet the puppy. It distracted her from our walk,
but only for a moment, and we began to finish our short journey.
I suddenly thought that this is
what it must be like for God. He wants to walk with us. He wants to hold our hand.
Sometimes we let go and do our own thing and wonder why we got into trouble.
Other times we stay close to him, but we allow things that come upon us to take
our eyes off where we are going.
God does not force us to go his
way. He does not make us hold his hand. He lets us choose our direction. Just as
G-Pop did for G-Baby, his hand is always there to grab. God never leaves our side.
He just watches us with love waiting patiently for us to continue together.
No comments:
Post a Comment