I have a daily routine of feeding my chickens and horses in the morning. When my bouncing 4 year old granddaughter is here, she loves to go with me to help. It is all an exciting adventure for all of us including the chickens and horses. One morning when I was in a hurry and she had been lagging behind getting her cow shoes on, she brought me up short with, “Pappi wait, wait.” Then while bouncing around me all full of life as we went down the hill to feed she continued her chatter… “Pappi, I just want to be with you. Here, hold my hand; I want to hold your hand. I want to run with you but I won’t run any faster than you can run.” I looked down at her hanging onto my hand and the Lord started talking to me. She continued; “If you get tired, I will stop and rest with you, and if you get thirsty, I will go get you a drink. I just want to be with you!” By now tears were streaming down my face and I looked at her intently; Jesus was talking to me directly through a 4 year old. She noticed my tears; “Pappi, you are crying, I love you!” as she latched onto my leg. “I love you too!” as I reached down and scooped her up into my arms. My 4 year old was showing me all the basic, essential, skills of an infant that I did not have.
At that point I knew that Jesus wanted me to mature relationally so that I can be an effective blessing to my family and to all the people around me and to all those I will meet in the future.