Gavin arrived to play this morning with a basket of toys - an assortment of mostly broken matchbox cars, pieces of a plastic racetrack, parts of an old phone and a bag of wooden alphabet blocks - and he was content to make do with every one of them. The child is easily entertained.
I promised I'd play with him and his odd choice of toys as soon as I put the cobbler in the oven and prepared the roasts for later, but before I could finish, Gavin grabbed my hand and pulled me into the living room.
"Look what I built, mimi!"
Two dozen wooden alphabet blocks were stacked leaning into each other in two tall columns on the coffee table.
"Don't touch it." Gavin warned. Even a four year old could tell it'd only take a puff of air to bring the whole thing down.
"What a tall tower you built. Good job." I applauded - like all proud and good and encouraging mimis do.
"Did you know that the name of the Lord is a tower?" Gavin shook his head and proceeded to dismantle his creation while I sang the scripture song I'd learned years ago....
"The name of the Lord is...
a strong tower...
the righteous run in to it...
and they are safe..."
After lunch, I sat seven-month-old Addisyn, who's learning how to clap her hands, on my lap. Holding her hands in mine, we clapped together for Gavin as she watched her brother's silly antics to entertain her.
And I leaned forward to sing into Addisyn's ear - another song from long ago...
"Clap your hands all ye people...
Shout unto God with a voice of triumph...
Clap your hands all ye people...
Shout until God with a voice of praise..."
Either Addisyn, like her brother, didn't mind that I can't sing or she simply enjoyed the clapping, but she listened attentively and smiled as we clapped and I lifted her arms in praise...
"Hosanna, hosanna...
Shout until God with a voice of triumph
Praise Him, praise Him...
Shout unto God with a voice of praise."
And I was reminded that of all the proud and good and encouraging things a gray-haired mimi like me could do, there's nothing more important than seizing the moments to tell of God's love - of His grace, His power and His might...
O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. ~ Psalm 71.17, 18Photos - a walk at dusk around the pond
