Here we are, ready and waiting for the walk to begin.

If only I could crawl into the mind of an almost four year old…to hear and see how their growing brains are computing information…images…hearing conversations and lessons from parents, caregivers, etc. Oh to imagine the wonders I would behold were that possible. Alas, as fun as that adventure would be for me, any delight of my own discoveries relies on what my grandchildren have to say as they grow…mature…go on adventures through day trips…vacations…reading books….listening to stories.

Recently, my husband and I joined our son’s family–which consists of his beautiful wife and their two children, Jacks–age 3, almost 4–and Mylah, “Siss”, as she’s affectionately called, age 2, for the 2022 Step Out Diabetes Walk which was held at Detroit’s beautiful Belle Isle. Sunday morning greeted us with glorious blue skies adorned with puffy clouds, surrounded by full sunshine. Situated along the Detroit River not far from the Renaissance Center, we caught a cool breeze every once in a while, just enough to refresh us from the rays of the sun.

Our “walk” began at 10 am and at a pace which included our son pushing the kids in the stroller, we made the three miles in just over an hour. Cold drinks and sandwiches were ready for us to refuel and rest before our drive back home.

As we walked to our cars, lil Jack–who was holding onto his momma’s hand–looked up at her, confidently explaining to her that “we are going to have a rainbow”. I don’t remember exactly how she responded to him but again, he told her “we’re going to have a rainbow…they come out on Friday and Saturday”.  I asked him if he’d ever heard a story from the Bible that talked about rainbows. He hadn’t yet (I encouraged him to have momma or daddy read that story to him from his children’s Bible….

I chuckled at his matter of fact confidence that “we would have a rainbow”. This belief–coming from a mind that is growing faster than the speed of light in my humble opinion–reminded me of “why” we see rainbows. They appear in the eastern skies after a pretty big rainstorm, when the sun comes back from behind dark clouds and its prism of colors create an arched image of magnificent beauty…stretching from end to end…glistening high into the heavens. 

A quick internet search explains the phenomena of a rainbow: 

A rainbow only happens when the sunlight is coming from behind and is low in the sky. As the sunlight shines into a curtain of raindrops in the air in front of you, only one color from each droplet will refract at the exact angle necessary to directly reach your eye.

Greater than any scientific explanation for a rainbow is the reasoning found in scripture:

God created the rainbow as a reminder that he will never flood the whole earth again. But, the rainbow is also a symbol of God’s unbelievable love for us. He chose to rescue Noah from the flood, and he chose to rescue all of us from sin when he sent Jesus. Even when we really mess up, God’s love is still there.

I love how our grandson’s mind is thinking, reasoning, believing how things in God’s creation “operate”. Maybe he saw a rainbow on a Friday or a Saturday, and like everything else he’s experienced in his short time, he remembers it without any difficulty.

I also love that our grandchildren are learning about God from their parents who read to them….pray with them….take them to church….surround them with experiences connected to the beauty of nature.

I love that indeed, rainbows happen on Fridays and Saturdays according to Jacks, but I look forward to the days when he–and the other grandchildren–hear the story of Noah…the flood…the rainbow….God’s promise to never destroy us with water again…always displaying his love for us…not only on Fridays or Saturdays, either…but every day…every moment. 

Cool…sometimes very cold water…fills our small pool for 

hot summer days. 

Pools & Patience

Combine a hot day in mid August with a small kiddie swimming pool and a perfect spot for conversation can take place when a grandmother is willing to sit in the somewhat frigid water to “play” with a granddaughter…..a child whose love language (one of them)  is “spending time”…so, while her younger brother napped, we played in the pool recently, which in our case, is a two level blow up style, large enough for several small children who merely want to splash and get cooled off under a hot sticky day. I didn’t mind the chance to don a pair of shorts and tank top so I, too, could soak up some “end of the summer sunshine” that will soon fade to cooler temperatures.

In the midst of “gramma, wanna see something?” and “gramma, look what I can do” our granddaughter decided she’d try a new “move”...plugged her nose…went under water and spun her body around as quickly as the air in her lungs allowed…coming up with a splash, eyes closed, fingers tightly holding her nostrils shut. “Did you see that!?” I sure did…I think I counted three full turns and complimented her for such a feat in the shallow waters. She wasn’t exactly thrilled with my compliment or her “move”…”Gramma, I didn’t do very well”….”Well, honey”, I replied, “you need to be patient while you practice. You’ll do better each time”.

She wrinkled her face responding “We talked about patience in KidMin. It didn’t work for me”.  (Laughter filled my body from head to toe)

“Oh baby girl….life will give you many more opportunities to learn patience”….

“Preach the word. Be ready to do it whether it is convenient or inconvenient. Correct, confront, and encourage with patience and instruction.” 2 Timothy 4:2

Indeed, patience takes a long time. At age 7 our granddaughter believed she had failed to put this wonderful virtue into practice. I can feel her anguish. At age 68 there are days I don’t want to hear the word either….whether it’s from a sermon message or a component of a daily devotional. “Waiting” is not on my top ten list of character traits…positive ones, that is. But, in the midst of my willingness to admit this character flaw, I’m also willing to acknowledge the ability to surrender my anxious thoughts and actions to God…allow Him to control, lead and guide me….to ‘encourage (me) with patience and instruction’….especially on my hardest of days…

As our granddaughter grows, we’ll need a bigger pool. I’m pretty certain she will continue to work on her “moves”…going deeper and longer under the water as depths will permit..lungs growing with greater strength…I’ll keep encouraging her as I sit near her….watching and listening to her squeals of delight….learning life lessons from her…and hopefully pass a few of my own along to her…all under the sun on a hot summer day…cooled by a small kiddie pool and  gleaning refreshment from God’s Word. Together we will “wait” for patience to be built deeper into our spirits…eyes wide open to see the results….lungs expanding to breathe in the rewards from all our hard diligence and  practice….

Where I grew up in Saginaw, the Tittabawessee River, depending on its twists and turns winding through various counties in the lower peninsula of Michigan, was and remains a beautiful part of nature.  Hidden by trees along its riverbank, the river was south of my childhood home, well within walking distance for kids. I seldom went to the river because my mother wasn’t keen on the idea. Getting there meant treading through a swamp along Mr. Rader’s farmland….or walking through tall overgrown grasses at an abandoned airfield to the west of the swamp…or along the edge of Mr. Rader’s wheat field which he frowned upon greatly. So, I think I only went out to the river in “our neck of the woods a couple of times”. Now, my brothers and neighborhood boys? That’s a different story. Boys being boys, going to the river to “spear” or “catch” fish with poles was a summertime sport. Their goal was to see how many carp fish they could snag ….careful to handle and throw back into the murky waters created in the 60s by toxic chemicals spilled into it by Dow Chemical until clean up efforts began with the corporation joining those efforts….but’s that’s the not the focal point of today’s blog.  I want to talk more about those carp.

Not a particularly pretty looking fish, part of my childhood experiences regarding this fish was being told “they aren’t fit to eat”….”they are bottom feeders”….”they are nasty”…looking at a few sites online reveals contrary facts challenging my childhood beliefs….that some countries actually eat carp as part of their cuisine…that the meat of the fish is moist and flaky. Which leads me to a childhood memory I’ve not forgotten.

Dad and I were sitting on our front porch on a hot sticky summer evening after dinner. The sun hadn’t set yet and as we were enjoying each other’s company a couple of neighborhood boys strolled by, each with a string of those carp over their shoulders. As I watched them…said our hellos…I suddenly heard all the familiar phrases in my head that dad and mom would say about the river and its carp…dirty, nasty, not fit to eat….I looked up at my dad and asked, “do you think they’re going to actually eat those!?”  In his gentle manner that taught me so many life lessons, he merely replied, “honey, those fish may be their only meal today.” Hmm. Seems maybe dad knew more about their families’ economic situation than a seven year old…no judgment. No admonishment telling them to throw the fish in the trash. 

I don’t know why this childhood memory surfaced today. Maybe it’s because now, at age 68, living in the 2000s, news headlines are reporting global food shortages. Our local resources that help families with food and pantry items are amping up their voices to fill needs beyond their shelves’ inventory….grocery prices have climbed significantly since late spring…farm production costs have skyrocketed…more folks are planting gardens and looking for ways to provide daily meals, ourselves included although we are not heavily burdened by the current economy. We are blessed….

Back to the carp….as much as I don’t care to trust that eating a carp is good cuisine…it’s great to write that since my childhood, efforts to clean the river have paid off. Years of hard work have reduced the level of toxins…the river actually freezes in some areas…and ice fishing competitions are now part of winter activities in my home city. Other fish are filling the waters….revitalization is happening….the carp still remain for “catch and release” or maybe a meal? I’m not in any big hurry to find out, but I’m grateful the river has been reclaimed and is being restored to original beauty…something everything in Creation deserves.

This photo doesn’t say which part of the river we are looking at; you can see the banks are lined with snow and patches of ice float on the water under the sun. In the 90s, my office was located in a building that sat on the riverbank. In the spring, we actually went outside to watch and listen as the ice broke in late spring, pushing huge ice chunks along the water’s flow. The power of the river and the sounds it made was fascinating, a most welcome sight to behold. And, once in awhile, the forces of the ice actually pushed a carp or two up above the water for a moment of flight in mid air, landing back in the chilly water to continue the ride out to the Saginaw Bay.

Last week–outside our small bathroom window–I heard quite the commotion at our lone bird feeder that is suspended by a shepherd’s crook type pole. The familiar chatter told me it was a blue jay. Sure enough, a large male was jockeying for his position at the feeder…maneuvering his body in all sorts of contorted moves that made me cringe merely watching him….at one point he had his feet firmly gripped to the pole trying not to slide down like a firefighter answering the ringing bell in a firehouse! It didn’t help that a night of hard rain had left the pole pretty wet. Endurance and fortitude paid off for our determined visitor and he was able to grab some seed in his beak before flying away. The flurry of action took less than a minute for him to accomplish enjoying a morning meal and gave me an image of my own antics seeking daily nourishment….

Psalm 34:8 says “Taste and see that the LORD is good. How happy is the person who takes refuge in Him!” (Christian Standard Bible)

My morning ritual includes rolling out of a cozy bed about 7:30 am…stretch and yawn….use the bathroom and then shuffle my way to the kitchen where hot coffee awaits me (thank you to an early riser husband)…settle into my recliner by our living room window…opened if the temperatures allow…kick back with open Bible and current devotional and begin my day, reading and writing in between sips of my coffee, which by the way, is always black with a splash of cinnamon….poured into a mug that has an inspirational verse on it or is tied to special holidays and seasons…

As I read. As I write. As I meditate, I often think of my fine feathered friends that come to our feeder every morning and throughout the day, rain or shine. These beautiful little creatures have come to rely on our willingness and ability to fill the feeder. They’re clever enough now to squawk like crazy when it’s empty, chewing us out for being negligent. I’ve witnessed little brawls on the feeding posts attached to the feeder along with some birds finding seed that has dropped to the ground. I’ve also noticed that one or two birds seem to become “watchmen” on the rail…their little heads turning to and fro….left to right…looking out for any enemy that might be lurking…namely the neighbor’s cat who visits sometimes….the chickens and ducks from next door who wander over, too. Somehow, our resident chipmunk doesn’t bother them. He’s happy to gather the seed they drop on the deck.

Snuggled safely into my recliner I am pursuing Psalm 34:8. I’m tasting and seeing the goodness of the Lord…His daily provision for our family is bountiful. Vegetable plants we placed in the dirt this past spring are growing nicely, producing slowly but surely. Income for us remains steady and sure…bills are being paid….prayers ebb and flow for friends…their family members…our own family….watchman types of prayer for my community, nation and world. Indeed, I can say that MOST of the time, I am happy in the Lord because I DO take refuge in HIM….

Like our feathered friends who are counting on us for daily seeds in that plastic cylinder…I am relying on God for my own needs..nourishment…encouragement…and renewed hope. LIke that blue jay fighting like crazy to hang on to the pole, I’m clinging tight to God’s Word and His promises…. Lord knows, in a world full of chaos, I…we…. all need what only He offers to those who have put their trust in Him. To ward off enemies that try to sneak up on us, He sends angels to defend and protect. He whispers in my ears and spirit little warnings, much like our tiny birds chirping signals to their friends–”danger, danger”. 

A blue jay clinging to a slippery pole is a good reminder for me to hold tight while pursuing what I’m in search of–peace, hope, nourishment, protection. The small choir of other birds chirping whether they are begging for food or sending out warning signals reminds me to surround myself with friends who have my back. Afterall, no one wants to be the victim of a sneak attack from a sneaky neighborhood cat….or lose their place at the feeder…which in my case, is the Word of God. 

A question is that part of my daily prayer journal is this: What’s happening in your life?

I must admit, it’s been difficult to write a different answer each day because if I’m being honest, most of my days are a lot alike. I get up at the same time each morning, usually about 7:30. After grabbing my first mug of coffee I make my way to the living room and settle into my recliner and get my Bible, journal and pen, cozying up with my devotion which is on an application downloaded to my phone. After finishing my devotional and writing out my prayers, any light chores that need to be done begin. On Mondays I work as a volunteer in my church office for about three hours. Then it’s back home until 3:30 when a small group of us do strength training together.

Tuesdays are dedicated to preparing for our weekly Celebrate Recovery meeting and writing my blog if I’m not bogged down with a “to do” list. 

Wednesday through the weekend are pretty much wide open to do laundry, perform light cleaning, get in two more workout sessions and go on errands when necessary.

I often worry that my life is mundane, boring, same-o same-o until I take a few minutes to reflect on the goodness I am surrounded with every day. 

Another portion in my journal is “Thank you for…..” Ah, a gratitude column. This is one that can also seem trite, however, when I remember that every good gift comes from “above”–my heavenly Father–I’m able to thank him for night’s rest…some people don’t have a safe, warm or cool, bed to sleep…my mind has wandered to displaced families in Ukraine…

I can thank God for daily provision. Hot coffee, electricity to prepare meals and right now, cool our home in the temperatures that July and August give us here in Michigan…finances to pay our utilities and other obligations….water to quench my thirst and wash away grime and sweat…wash our clothes–oh, my, sometimes I ponder just how many clothes we have…there’s people in countries who don’t have a closet full of shirts…dresses…pants…bare feet carrying heavy buckets of water for preparing meals and washing what clothes they DO have in the bank of a river.

At the top of my gratitude list is my gratefulness that our four grandchildren are being taught about God. They are learning to pray. Four year old Jacks says “thank you for our blessin’s” (our son says it’s as though he is suddenly from the south….7 year old Macklynn addresses God as “Father Jesus” and proceeds to ask that He give her family and friends as “amazing day”. Three year old Coby mutters prayers in his own toddler language and always applauds with his “yay” which is his current amen…we haven’t heard two year old Mylah’s prayers yet, but we know they are inside her and she’s a willing participant at meals and bedtime. 

So, it happens to be Wednesday morning. Monday and Tuesday are behind me, with a lot that has been accomplished and more “to do”. Laundry is in the dryer. Remnants of dirty dishes and cookware from food preparation on Tuesday are washed. A yummy variety of vegetables have been roasted to enjoy for a couple of lunches this week. Our bed is made and clean towels hung in the bathrooms.

So, what’s happening in my life? Lots of good things that don’t have to be elaborate trips to exotic places or going to a job that could be a drudge. No, I’m right where I desire to be, in our home, enjoying the fruit of working a lot of years for someone else, now employing my gifts and talents for Kingdom work…for the benefit of our home and family….reading, cleaning–ALL the “mom jobs” and waiting for  “blessins”’ big and small, for EVERY good gift is from Above.