Overnight at Grammy's

This summer, in between Bug Camp and Ooey-Gooey Camp, my grandkids spent a few nights at my house. It doesn’t happen often due to their busy schedules. But when it does, it’s a big deal.  To get ready I cleaned the house from top to bottom. (They have allergies)  Got into corners I rarely visit. Then I inventoried their toy chest, the one I keep for when they come to dinner, etc. I always try to have a little something new and fun in it. Nothing big, but something that makes them feel like their toy box is an adventure, or a treasure chest waiting to be explored.   I culled the things they had outgrown, then went to the store and bought 2 new coloring books—Dora-the-Explorer, and Cars—a Chutes and Ladders game, a pack of construction paper and some new crayons.

            Next the menu.  What was I going to make them for breakfast, lunch and diner during the next several days?  Why, their favorites of course!  So I packed the refrigerator with plenty of organic milk, organic whole grain waffles, organic eggs, organic chicken hotdogs, organic chicken cutlets, organic yogurt, organic cookies, organic strawberries, organic ice cream, organic . . . .

I could have fed the entire neighborhood with all the food I brought home.

            Then the final step: scouring the internet for all the local fun stuff to do.  The aquarium looked good. It had at least two manatees—those big, sweet-faced lumbering sea cows that float around in their tanks like giant buoys when they’re not eating bushels of lettuce.  It also had a half dozen giant turtles, not to mention a huge variety of fish, coral and crustaceans. There were also a few playgrounds nearby.  And then there was our pool, which is always a hit. 

I tell you, it took me a week to prepare. And I did it with excitement and joy. The final results? We had a ball, and at the end of their visit I was rewarded with, “When can we come again, Grammy?”

And all this brings to mind how God invests so much into us, too. Preparing situations, laying out His plans for our life, opening doors, cleaning away debris that would hinder, pouring “gifts” into us to make that way easier. No detail is too small for His attention.  And I bet He does it all with excitement and joy, too. 

And just like my grandchildren who had no clue of all the effort that went into their visit, we have no clue of all the effort God invests into us; of all the “behind the scenes” work He does on our behalf. And if we’re really honest, sometimes we even wonder if He’s working on our behalf at all. But He is, and I think it pleases Him when we remember that fact; when we raise our voices in praise of Him in spite of what we see or feel; when we fill our hearts with gratitude for what He has done for us in the past and what He is busy doing even now, albeit, unseen.  

Until next week,

Sylvia