Joyful...

The sun is shining, and a new day is dawning.  Yesterday is complete and today is just beginning. 

The other day, despite being sick all weekend with a virus making the rounds my wee Bear insisted on fresh air time and I agreed.  We went out side and she dug  and played in the mud for an hour or so.  She got some fresh air and sunshine on her cheeks.  She created an imaginary world call Mud Waller Land and made what she termed a "mud wallow" in the fallow garden plot.  She developed a whole story line around her muddy play area.  She had fun and enjoyed her time of uninterrupted play and imagination. 

Bear and Spy Boy
searching for adventures in the woods

Bear had fun; but still  missed her cousins, Wonder Boy and Spy Boy.  It was short-lived though; she soon began to plan for when the three of them can be together again to share more grand adventures. I didn't have the heart to tell her soon her cousins will be too old to want to play with a little girl.  I'll hold off on that reality for a while.  For now I will let her dream of her cousins and the fun she will have again.

I know I am doing right by letting her find simple joys and explore those wonders.  She might not be reading yet, but she has a natural curiosity about the world and how things work that she boggles my mind.  She is a natural born "performer" and society hasn't robbed her of her innocence yet that the world isn't her friend.  When other children or adults try to rob that from her, we quickly find another place to be now.  It hasn't always been the case, but it is now.  Life is too short and childhood is even shorter to be ripped away by hurtful words or actions. 

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. John 4:26

We are happier when we follow this path I feel has been paved by God.  When others try to divert our attention and focus from this path, pain follows in its wake. 

Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.  Proverbs 25:26

Staying on the path is hard.  So many people want to lead us astray and down the path that doesn't lead us to Him.  Its sad.  God's path is called The Way and there is no other way to life.  There is only ONE WAY.  God's unchanging (Malachi 3:6).  The world changes, and what is right today will not be right tomorrow.  Man is seeking god within himself and if he would just sit back and let God do the work, things would be so much calmer.  Small children do this naturally.  They worry about nothing insignificant and God uses people and the world around them to provide and teach them.  Life doesn't have to be mean or cruel, but as we age we beg for it.  God does not want us to be hurt and in pain, but we ask for it through sin. 

We all fall short and sin.  Each and every one of us.  We all worry as adults.  What I am talking about and asking for others to join me in, is to give God a chance to take over and maybe we can recapture love for life, I mean real love for life.  Not this thing that passes for love, but a simple love that isn't complicated and based upon what someone does for you.  We are told to come to God as little children for a reason and looking at childhood the way it use to be speaks volumes.

This is why letting my daughter experience a full and rich childhood is important to me.  Life will  interrupt her soon enough without me shoving it at her.   So lets reflect on the good we see and not the corruption surrounding us.  Lets strive to love and not hate. There is enough things to hate without finding more stuff to hate.  Even amidst tragedy one can see the love people show toward others.  This gives us strength.  Lets come to God like a child, so that we find complete peace beneath His sheltering arms.  They are big enough to shelter us all.

 

 

Now lets tend our gardens well my friends.  Life happens when your busy making other plans, so focus on what's really important in your life.  Is it the cranky know it all mom in play group, or your child taking their first steps in the dewy grass and giggling at the spiky softness?  Is it your brother that has nothing good to say about you, or is it your husband who lays next to you each night and comforts you when you don't even know how to ask for the comfort? 

 

Thank you God for surrounding me with love.