This morning I was thinking about my grandsons. I want to take them to do something big and fun this summer. I started checking the “get away” deals on Groupon. Four days at a family resort outside of Austin or San Antonio sounded perfect! A beautiful hotel, a kids program, a kids pool that was like a real beach… WOW. Unfortunately these were a little pricy so I began looking at other options… Sea World, Six Flags, a Ranger game, a short trip to Texoma…still not within my budget constraints.

As I sat with my reality I began thinking about what was fun for them. They are barely 5 & 6 years old. Today, they like playing Legos, swimming in a cheap plastic pool we bought for the back yard, watching a movie snuggled in my arms, hot dogs on the grill, finding doodle bugs and playing in the sprinkler. Too soon these childhood memories will be gone and replaced with Six Flags, Sea World, Rangers games, riding Seedos and going to Colorado. In one or two years I’ll have to beg them to sit in my lap. Playing in the back yard will probably give way to playing with friends, computer games and organized sports. I am going to miss holding them in my arms. In just a few short years, spending the weekend with Mimi will not be such a celebrated event.

So, perhaps God’s sweet whisper to me this morning is to savor this irreplaceable season with my grandsons and remember what they really need. They need my presence which speaks to them over and over again saying, “Oh how I love you. You are the best! Look at how smart you are. I want to be with you. I am not going to leave you.”

The larger truth of this story is that all of us still need this message. What are we doing in our life to experience God’s presence? Is email, Facebook, work and running through life blinding us from the truth that all of us long to hear? “My Beloved, oh how I love you. You are the best! Look at how smart you are. I want to be with you. I am not going to leave you.”

Jesus called a little child to his side and set him on his feet in the middle of them all. “Believe me,” he said, “unless you change your whole outlook and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven. Matthew 18
Click on the envelope below to send to a friend.