“Out of the Mouths of Babes”
Any grandparent can relate to the fact that you haven’t actually started living until you become just that, Grandparents. I’m not sure why, but maybe the fact that the entire weight of nurturing, providing for, and educating isn’t upon our shoulders as it was with our own children. Our role is simple, love them, then love them some more.
We always enjoy having our grandchildren visit especially so, since they live some six hours away. So, every summer and Christmas we look forward to our weeks together. This past summer was such fun but inspiring as well, here’s why:
With Jadah just turning 5 and T.J. at 3 ½ their attention spans were a little more focused than at their last visit so we made it a point to spend a little extra time with them in bed-time prayer and reading from their Jr. Bible. This is something we’ve always done but this time I could tell it was really turning on some light bulbs in Jadah’s sweet little noggin. I enjoy my time with the Lord each evening kneeling at a small chair in our master-bath. It was, of course, no different while the grandchildren were with us and on most nights Jadah would slip into the room and just sit silently watching and listening to me pray. I’m confident that she was drawn to join me night after night by having felt the presence of the Lord. One evening I had gotten so caught-up in prayer that I wasn’t aware that she’d come to sit with me. I had wept with a heavy burden and prayed in tongues for quite some time before I noticed her presence. Wondering if my exaggerated emotional state had troubled her, I attempted to explain why I cried and spoke in tongues when I prayed. I asked her if it had frightened her and she replied, “No, Mommy cries sometimes when she prays too”. What comforting words.
The days of our two week visit were coming to a close and we were trying to get in all the visiting we could before they had to go home. One particular day was so fun-filled with a trip to the zoo, ice cream shop and MickyDee’s fun station…that we were bushed. They were both out before we arrived back home way past bed-time. T.J. slept right through his tucking-in and I thought Jadah had as well, but as I turned to tip-toe from the room she whispered, “Gramma, we didn’t say my prayers yet”. So I knelt with her as she prayed, “God blessing” everyone in the family on down to all the animals she could remember from the zoo. It was so precious. We said good night and once again I started to walk away when she spoke one last thing that I will remember for the rest of my days. She said, “Gramma, are you sleepy like me?” “Yes, baby, Gramma is very sleepy”. She yawned heavily and dreamily spoke in her feather-soft whisper, “But never too sleepy to go to your chair to talk to Jesus, huh?” I stopped, turned and looked at her little back as she rolled over while the tears welled quickly in my eyes and replied, “No, Baby, never too sleepy to talk to Jesus at my chair”.
I must confess there have been days when exhaustion owned me so completely that my evening devotions have been little more than my granddaughter’s lay-me-down-to sleep-prayer only lacking the complete sincerity of her innocent little heart. As demanding, stressful and utterly exhausting as our days can be at times, we must always remember that those moments with our Heavenly Father is all we need to ease our weariness, and prepare us for a the next days dawning where we’ll find “His mercies are new every morning…(Lam.3:23)
Jesus quoted David in Matt.21:16 when He said, “Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise”. Many times there’s a message in the voice of a child if we’ll just stop long enough to listen. “Except ye become as little children…ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt.18:3). How truly simple our salvation is…no human reasoning or questioning, no carnal understanding or analytical deductions…just simple “child-like faith”. Shhh…let’s listen…
We always enjoy having our grandchildren visit especially so, since they live some six hours away. So, every summer and Christmas we look forward to our weeks together. This past summer was such fun but inspiring as well, here’s why:
With Jadah just turning 5 and T.J. at 3 ½ their attention spans were a little more focused than at their last visit so we made it a point to spend a little extra time with them in bed-time prayer and reading from their Jr. Bible. This is something we’ve always done but this time I could tell it was really turning on some light bulbs in Jadah’s sweet little noggin. I enjoy my time with the Lord each evening kneeling at a small chair in our master-bath. It was, of course, no different while the grandchildren were with us and on most nights Jadah would slip into the room and just sit silently watching and listening to me pray. I’m confident that she was drawn to join me night after night by having felt the presence of the Lord. One evening I had gotten so caught-up in prayer that I wasn’t aware that she’d come to sit with me. I had wept with a heavy burden and prayed in tongues for quite some time before I noticed her presence. Wondering if my exaggerated emotional state had troubled her, I attempted to explain why I cried and spoke in tongues when I prayed. I asked her if it had frightened her and she replied, “No, Mommy cries sometimes when she prays too”. What comforting words.
The days of our two week visit were coming to a close and we were trying to get in all the visiting we could before they had to go home. One particular day was so fun-filled with a trip to the zoo, ice cream shop and MickyDee’s fun station…that we were bushed. They were both out before we arrived back home way past bed-time. T.J. slept right through his tucking-in and I thought Jadah had as well, but as I turned to tip-toe from the room she whispered, “Gramma, we didn’t say my prayers yet”. So I knelt with her as she prayed, “God blessing” everyone in the family on down to all the animals she could remember from the zoo. It was so precious. We said good night and once again I started to walk away when she spoke one last thing that I will remember for the rest of my days. She said, “Gramma, are you sleepy like me?” “Yes, baby, Gramma is very sleepy”. She yawned heavily and dreamily spoke in her feather-soft whisper, “But never too sleepy to go to your chair to talk to Jesus, huh?” I stopped, turned and looked at her little back as she rolled over while the tears welled quickly in my eyes and replied, “No, Baby, never too sleepy to talk to Jesus at my chair”.
I must confess there have been days when exhaustion owned me so completely that my evening devotions have been little more than my granddaughter’s lay-me-down-to sleep-prayer only lacking the complete sincerity of her innocent little heart. As demanding, stressful and utterly exhausting as our days can be at times, we must always remember that those moments with our Heavenly Father is all we need to ease our weariness, and prepare us for a the next days dawning where we’ll find “His mercies are new every morning…(Lam.3:23)
Jesus quoted David in Matt.21:16 when He said, “Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise”. Many times there’s a message in the voice of a child if we’ll just stop long enough to listen. “Except ye become as little children…ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt.18:3). How truly simple our salvation is…no human reasoning or questioning, no carnal understanding or analytical deductions…just simple “child-like faith”. Shhh…let’s listen…
