14 September 2013

Sometimes, Kids Tell You

My granddaughter, Jamie, who is an amazing, loving young lady, and Gabriel her equally amazing and loving brother, are the lights of Sue-z and my lives. They are blessed with hard working, loving, Christian, parents. I do not know what we might or could have done to deserve them all, but we will take them! Living together as we do (two flat) is wonderful.

Today, Jamie took another of those big steps towards the lovely young women she is growing into; her first training as an acolyte. For no obvious (to me at least) reason, one must be either 9 or in forth grade before this step can happen. And (this I do understand) one must have some training before you are sent out onto the altar as a worship leader of any kind.

I picked her up from the training. I used to be the acolyte master, and was pointedly told that I am out-of-date, so I did not want to in anyway hover. Besides, I had a soccer game with Gabriel to attend.

I tell you all this because as we left the church, we encountered some sidewalk that needs maintenance, and I reached out a hand to grasp a sign post as I walked, entirely comfortably to the street. Enter Jamie who wrapped an arm around me and as we walked across the stret, and informed me that in acolyte training she learned that part of her responsibility is to help, {wait for it!} "the elderly" if they exhibit any difficulty with the 4 or 5 stair steps up and down the way to the altar. So she was helping me across the street,

An endearing moment in so many ways. Jamie and I love each other as only a grandparent and grandbaby can. Then the image her explanation called up in my mind of so many bad cartoons and comedy skits depicting Boy Scouts forcibly dragging an older woman across a street. I outweigh her by about 200 lbs. Were I to fall on her, she would be smashed. And she knows that - but there she was bravely helping, "the elderly" because God, or at least the Acolyte master (for a 9 year-old the same person,) and her love told her to take that risk.

Somehow, not sure just how, I got to the car without crying, gathered my wits, what there is of them and such as they are, and off we drove. A few loving minutes in a long day. But they were special minutes.

Do it now, today. Tell your kids you love them and love being their guide on the road to "all grown up." If you have them, tell your grand kids how special they are to you. You do not need money, or toys, or games, just love. Do it - today.

1 comment:

Christal said...

It's amazing how fast they have grown. It's gratifying to know that Jamie is learning to acolyte from the same people who taught her father.

St Laika's

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