Tag: grandchildren

When Fear Crashes the Party

On By Charis PsalloIn PhotographyLeave a comment

dinosaur coming IMG_7070

My grandchildren reminded me what happens when we live in the clash between two kingdoms. My granddaughter, the meticulous decently-and-in-order one, had just finished setting up the fairy princess wedding scenario when the dinosaurs ventured out of her brother’s castle to try to crash the party. We had a problem -and it involved a lot of volume.

Dinosaur at the wedding party IMG_7081

Fear is a nasty weapon. I have seen fear bombs land on quite a few people lately -myself included.

For the Lord your God is living among you.

He is a mighty savior.

He will take delight in you with gladness.

With his love, he will calm all your fears.

He will rejoice over you with joyful songs. (Zephaniah 3:17)

I’ve talked to other people who have had the most bizarre charges laid against them lately.  Folks feel helpless to deal with accusations that are ridiculously unjust, and don’t know how to disarm them. The fear bombs are not from God, but He is neither surprised nor dismayed by them. He invites us to trust Him as He teaches us more about who He wants to be for us in these circumstances. His ways are often the opposite of our natural responses, and  He is excited to show us what He wants to do instead of the plans of the enemy of our souls. The devil’s most effective low-budget weapons are still fear and accusation. Love dismantles fear. Truth sets us free. When we let God carry all our burdens and worries it’s humbling, but empowering at the same time.

All of you should treat each other with humility, for as it says in Proverbs,

God opposes the proud
    but offers grace to the humble.

 So bow down under God’s strong hand; then when the time comes, God will lift you up. 

Since God cares for you, let Him carry all your burdens and worries.

 Most importantly, be disciplined and stay on guard.

Your enemy the devil is prowling around outside like a roaring lion, just waiting and hoping for the chance to devour someone. 

Resist him and be strong in your faith, knowing that your brothers and sisters throughout the world are fellow sufferers with you. 

After you have suffered for a little while, the God of grace who has called you [to His everlasting presence] through Jesus the Anointed will restore you, support you, strengthen you, and ground you. 

For all power belongs to God, now and forever. Amen.

( 1 Peter 5:5-11)

dino-envy IMG_7068

We need to be careful not to shoot the hostages. As my three-year old grandson pointed out, dinosaurs get lonely and sometimes they need love too. They don’t often get asked to tea in a princess castle because they don’t fit, but a princess can visit theirs.

I think Jesus would approve.

Princess visits dinosaur castle IMG_7063

Binky

On By Charis PsalloIn Just folks, Photography4 Comments

IMG_1470

The day Grampa Thomson came for Sunday dinner was a day of joy for our little girl. He was a kindly usher at the church we attended and bragged that he was not as old as God, but he may have been as old as dirt -and everybody called him Grampa. He was still an engaging storyteller and always had time for young children. “Lally” sat beside him at the dinner table and helped him count his peas and told him where the chocolate milk was hidden in the fridge. She was thrilled when he asked if he could have a little bit to go with his apple pie and ran to get him some.

“Put it in the Smurf cup, Mommy!”
“Oh, yes, Mom! I love Smurf cups!”  he laughed.

When we moved to the living room to drink our tea (and chocolate milk) in more comfortable chairs, she didn’t run off with the other children, but sat on the floor by his feet playing with her doll, as she listened to every word he said. We hadn’t seen her quite so taken with another adult before. She was a child who made friends easily and there were other children amongst our guests that day, but she preferred Grampa Thomson’s attention.

We were laughing at one of our friend’s extremely large fish stories when I saw her get up quietly and go to her room. When she returned she brought Binky in her arms. Binky held the honour of being her most prized possession, and since Binky was so prized it was morphing into a worn tattered greying memory of the soft fuzzy blanket that once cocooned the wee baby I walked the floors with when they were both still new. Because she was now a big girl at three-years old (and because experience taught us that misplacing Binky meant a night of high anxiety for all concerned) she knew it needed to stay in her room.

She walked up to Grampa Thomson and plunked Binky on his lap.

“This is for you,” she said.

I felt embarrassed, but he acted as if the Queen of Sheba had just placed the wealth of Cush before him.

“I am honoured,” he said, taking the bedraggled (and somewhat smelly) cloth and draping it over his shoulders. She leaned against his knee and smiled adoringly at his face. After a while he lifted her up on his lap and offered to share a corner of Binky with her. She rubbed the dangling part of silky blanket binding against her cheek. Grampa Thomson assured us he was fine with her there. She fell asleep in his lap with her head on his chest as we talked. When it was time to go he wrapped her in the precious blanket and carried her to bed himself. He whispered a prayer and gently stroked her curls.

“You have a very precious gift from God in this little girl,” he said. We smiled proudly.

We waved to our guests as they departed into the ice fog and squeaky snow of a northern night and, when we had closed the door, asked each other what her unusual behaviour was all about.

The next Sunday we were in our usual seats, the kids with faces washed and socks matching (a major accomplishment in those days). They squirmed on and under the seats until they could be released for Sunday School. That’s when Grampa Thomson came down the aisle with an offering plate.

“Look, Mommy!” our little one said, “It’s God again!”

“That’s not God, honey,” I whispered.

“But teacher said this is God’s house, and look! There he is!” She stood on her chair and waved. Grampa Thomson waved back.

We had some explaining to do when we got home, about God not living in a building, but living in our hearts, and it turned into another Sunday afternoon discussion between adults on teaching theology to children. She misunderstood; Grampa Thomson was not God, but in truth the love of Jesus was in this dear man’s heart and the children knew it.

What made me tear up, when I thought about it later, was the response of a child who, although mistaken, believed God, in the form of a kind old man, had come to her house for dinner. She listened to him, talked to him, but more importantly gave him a gift of the most precious thing she owned, the blanket she depended on to relieve anxiety when the lights went out and she was alone in the dark.

It makes me wonder if I am willing to give Him a gift of the things that comfort me, as well.

She is a fine woman with children of her own now, and this trait of being willing to give God her heart and all of the things she values most is still part of who she is. She is a good mom and a lover of Jesus Christ, and I am still proud of her.

Yesterday her three-year old called me on Facetime. I showed him the new floor I was putting in the room where he slept last time he was here with his cousins. Then I told him his cousins were away on a trip because their Mommy’s Grandma died, but she was not related to him and she was very, very old. Tears welled up in his big brown eyes and his lip quivered.

“But I never got to meet her,” he said, his mouth pulling down at the corners, “So I never got to say goodbye.”

His tender heart made me cry too. I know he will be a fine man -probably long before he is grown up.

Windows

On By Charis PsalloIn Man made7 Comments

“Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future.”

― Corrie ten Boom

Fort Steele, B.C.
Fort Steele, B.C.

 

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 71:18)

It All Depends

On By Charis PsalloIn Just folks, Photography4 Comments
"No!"
“No!”

Anyone who has spent time with a toddler knows about free will. One of the first words nearly all of us learn to say is NO.

Someone pointed out to me this morning that Jesus never preached about grace. It’s as if, for him, grace was a given. He demonstrated grace and lived the Father’s love, but his verbal message to us over and over was “You must have faith. Faith is your part.”

Faith is what engages grace.

I wanted to give my little granddaughter a frozen strawberry yogurt on a stick as a treat. She loves strawberry yogurt. It was very hot and I knew she would enjoy what I had prepared for her.

But she is 18 months old. She has free will. A parent learns quickly that you can pick up a child and take them where they do not want to go, but you cannot make them eat, or sleep, or use the potty or give grandma a hug. You can cajole, entice, plead, reward, punish and otherwise manipulate them, but you cannot make them do any one of these things – nor do it for them. They have a will.

Love does not permit me to shove a treat down her throat.

I had a yogurtsicle (and a warm wash cloth to help with the consequences of her inexperience). I also had a lot of love and hugs for her, which she did not earn, that I wanted to lavish on her, but in order to receive it she had to turn and respond to me.

I think this is a picture of our relationship with God. He has infinite grace and love to offer us, and we have the ability to say no. If we did not have the ability to say no, we would not have the ability to say yes.

I want a relationship with my granddaughter. I love her simply because she is my granddaughter. She doesn’t need to do anything to earn that love. I will love her even if she doesn’t turn around, but she will miss everything I have for her if she doesn’t make the choice to come to me.

God has so much love, so much grace, so much goodness waiting for us. He only wants us to respond to him. Trusting him enough to turn around from our ability to say no and acting upon our ability to say yes is called faith. It’s essential. Love does not permit him to shove his goodness down our throats. It is written, And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)

It’s all about relationship. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. (James 4:8)

Nothing is impossible for You

On By Charis PsalloIn Music3 Comments

For the past two weeks my four-year old granddaughter has asked for the same song, “Strings” by Misty Edwards to be played over and over again. Today as I took all three little ones to a friend’s so I could rush to the hospital after learning her daddy’s condition had deteriorated, I asked if she wanted to hear “Strings”. I thought it might calm my soul as well.

She said, “No. Play the next song.”

It was, “I believe that you’re my healer.”

“That’s the one!” she said.

I didn’t tell her what was happening with Daddy, but she sang so sweetly and innocently and confidently in the back seat:
Nothing is impossible for you
Nothing is impossible
Nothing is impossible for you...

Daddy was so unstable this morning they didn’t dare move him across the hallway into the O.R., but rather did further surgery on him in the ICU.

He lives.

We cling to hope.

I’m so in love with you

On By Charis PsalloIn Flowers, Just folks, Music, Photography7 Comments
First crocus
First crocus

Praise comes naturally to children who are accustomed to hearing it.

Yesterday I saw my little granddaughter running around my almost barren garden. Her arms were in the air and her face grinned at the sky.

“Thank you! Thank you, rain!” she said, “You made the little flowers open! Thank you, rain!”

She showed me that the two tiny crocuses we had seen beside the house in the morning were indeed opening.

“Spring is coming! Spring is coming!” she said, dancing her silly happy dance (and refusing to come in out of the rain.)

The day before we had driven to a town about half an hour away.  She insisted on hearing “her” song -on repeat- the whole way there and back. Her mom told me that the night before when they arrived at our house she would not get out of the car, as excited as she was to visit Nana and Boppa’s house, until the song had finished.

I asked her why she liked it so much. She said, “Cuz it’s a song to Jesus.”

As part of their bedtime ritual her parents have a time of saying “nice words” to the children, in which they bless the kids by telling them the positive things they see in them  – things like kindness, gentleness, enthusiasm,  patience, beauty, intelligence, helpfulness, joyfulness. I wish I had known about the benefits of blessing with nice words when my children were growing. The difference in my grandchildren is that they also know how to bless and encourage others. It melts my heart when my little grandson cuddles up and says, “Thank you for the milk, Nana. You are kind and gentle.”

A lot of times when kids want songs to be repeated on the car sound system they are hard-on-the-nerves songs. The song “Daisy” wanted was very gentle. She told me it sounded a little sad at first, but it got happier. We talked about it and she made the connection to “nice words.”

“The song sings nice words to Jesus!” she said.

It thrilled my heart to be in such a holy atmosphere as we rode quietly and were led in worship by a child, not yet four years old, singing along with Misty in the back seat.

“Lord, you have my song…..I’m so in love with you, I’m so in love with you,  Jeeeesus.”


They asked Jesus, “Do you hear what these children are saying?”

“Yes,” Jesus replied. “Haven’t you ever read the Scriptures? For they say, ‘You have taught children and infants to give you praise.’” (Matthew 21:16)

Find Me!

On By Charis PsalloIn Just folks, Photography6 Comments
Come and Find Me!
Come and Find Me!

My little grandson loves to play hide-and-seek, but he hasn’t quite got the hang of it yet. Little Mighty Man runs around my feet chanting, “Find me, Nana! Find me! I hide.”

He then makes as much noise as he can opening and closing the bedroom closet door, or shoving the potty across the floor so he can stand behind the door in the bathroom, or sneaks behind the curtains -in plain view. Sometimes I’ll call out “Little Mighty Man! Where are you? Oh, dear, I can find him!” and he will immediately drop a tiny little hint. “I’m in the closet!”

Nothing is worse than a game of hide-and-seek when the seeker is distracted by a phone call and isn’t actively looking. We want to be found.

Sometimes, when God has me in a dross-burning season in my life, I think it would be nice to just slip away for a while. “Flee as a bird,’ the psalmist said. I argue that the cost of removing contaminated, moldy ideas from my mind is too much. That which was supposed to be a simple renovation in my heart has resulted in tearing down walls and lifting flooring that has served me quite well thus far. (Well, good enough.) I just want to escape from the confusion and hide for a while.

But I’m hiding with my feet sticking out. Please look for me, Abba. Please laugh and pick me up and hug me when you lift the curtain.

You go before me and follow me.
    You place your hand of blessing on my head.
 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too great for me to understand!

 I can never escape from your Spirit!
    I can never get away from your presence!
 If I go up to heaven, you are there;
    if I go down to the grave, you are there.
 If I ride the wings of the morning,
    if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
 even there your hand will guide me,
    and your strength will support me.
 I could ask the darkness to hide me
    and the light around me to become night—
     but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
    Darkness and light are the same to you.

 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
    They cannot be numbered!
 I can’t even count them;
    they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
    you are still with me!

(Psalm 139:5-12, 12-18)

Love bears, believes, hopes, endures

On By Charis PsalloIn Art, Just folks4 Comments

Love suffers long and is kind; 

love does not envy; 

love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 

does not behave rudely, 

does not seek its own, 

is not provoked, 

thinks no evil; 

does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 

bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

 Love never fails.

1 Corinthians 13

sled

A prayer for my granddaughter on the day of her first breath

On By Charis PsalloIn Just folks, Photography23 Comments
First Day
First Day

Oh sweet child, you have already given me such joy. There is nothing you need to do to earn my love. I have loved you since you were the hope in my own daughter’s heart, the hope that doctors told her was in vain. But God….

But God heard your Mommy’s and Daddy’s prayers, and ours, and now you, our miracle, snuggled in my arms this very day as my joy overflowed. You are the very fulfillment of the promise of the goodness of our heavenly Father and we all thank him so much for you.

There is a reason why your name means “Living Love Warrior.”

How do I pray for you, precious one? I can think of no greater prayer than this.

My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.

 God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us. (Ephesians 3:14-21 The Message)

May you know, that as much a you are loved by your Mommy and Daddy and grandparents and all your family, there is One who loves you more, loves you perfectly, has always loved you and always will love you. May you be filled to overflowing with His love from your first breath until your last.
Abba Father, I bow in grateful thanks for everything you have in store for this child of promise. You are so very, very good!

Presumption

On By Charis PsalloIn Black and white, Man made, Photography, UncategorizedLeave a comment
Building up
Building up and knocking down

I’ve been cleaning house in preparation for Christmas.

OK, the truth is I needed to mail some presents and by the time we dragged out the boxes of tree decorations and cards with mismatched envelopes and holly jolly wrinkled wrap the place was a disaster. I had to get Grampie to move the portable table saw and the camping equipment out first to get at it and that led to a multitude of forgotten junk, old toys and sports equipment from years past spilling out of the tiny storage room under the stairs as well. I had no choice; there was no hiding this stuff. Some thingys had been there so long we forgot we had them and had gone out and bought new thingys when we needed them. Six air mattresses. Really?

So I have been cleaning and sorting and hauling stuff to the thrift shop.

In the middle of my trying to pare down Grampie brought home a big box of wooden blocks he found at a going-out-of business sale. Since we have four grandchildren under the age of three and a half — soon to be five grandchildren– the purchase of blocks does make sense. They love to build to build castles and high towers. Well, some like to build up –and some cannot resist knocking down. They don’t always have the same plans. The little boys especially presume the whole point of building blocks is the satisfying crashing sound they make when they plow through a structure in their stocking feet. That’s when we need to talk about understanding that we need to find out if the other kid wanted their tower knocked down or not. Pay attention. Listen. Usually an adult suggests a plan and gets the kids working together on a project. When it’s done they can all knock it down.

As I was cleaning and sorting, looking for a place to put them, it seemed like a good time to do a little spiritual house cleaning too, what with all the reminders of advent and John the Baptist and repentance and preparing the way and all that, so I asked the Lord to show me any hidden sins –you know, like in the song, “Create in me a clean heart, Oh Lord, and renew a right spirit within me, and see if there be any hurtful way in me.”

Sigh. Dangerous prayer. When I decided to deal with the obvious, other junk I had forgotten about just kept pouring out of my heart closet.

OK, the need to confess sins of omission and sins of commission I understand; some hidden ones in my blind spot became painfully obvious too. Not fun, but God is quite willing to forgive when we are willing to agree with him and it feels good to be clean. Then I ran across this verse about presumptuous sins.

Who can discern his errors?
Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me! (Psalm 19: 12, 13)

I asked a few people who seem to be a little further ahead on the road than I what they thought it meant.

A kind, wise woman answered, “The sin of presumption is thinking  Jesus came to fulfill our plans rather than that He came to equip us to fulfill his.”

I like this. I need to remember to ask God what His plans are before I go barging through something he is building up -or before I scramble to fix something he is tearing down. I need to ask him what his priorities are, then take the blocks he gives me and work alongside him. Like my husband says, “God’s a good listener, but he doesn’t take direction well.”

Sorry, Lord. Thank you for forgiving me.