Janet and I love the time we can be with Erin, our daughter, and Matt, our son-in-law, and our grandchildren! There is a never-ending joy that comes in listening to our grands talk as we play with them. We have done our part in giving them toys and they enjoy playing with them. Even so, it always tickles me how in their play they will ask me to “make” something to fit into the play agenda for the day. Once I did it the first time, then they love to ask for it again and again. For example:
- Mattie is saving her money for a trip to Paris someday and often she will employ her suitcase to play at packing her favorite toys for the journey. She’ll ask me, “Grandaddy, can you make me a Passport.” I will fashion a Passport that she treats like the real thing as she comes up to Passport control and plays as if she is going in and out of the USA on trips. I will check the picture to make sure it matches her face and then wham bam the stamp pad and enter the Visa stamp for her next stop.
- I’m not sure how many cardboard iPhones I have made drawing on the apps they require. Jase loves the way the real GPS works on the phone, so he most recently asked me to make an iPad with a map and mark the journey on it across town to school, church, restaurants, and such. So, I got busy drawing it for him to use.
- One day not long ago there were two boxes left over from Christmas deliveries that they wanted to turn into houses. So, I made shelves and openings for light, and a place to put the toothbrushes and toothpaste and made it all from cardboard and duct tape – really intricate stuff, tic!
If they ask me to make it, I give it a try. None of it ever lasts a long time but they enjoy playing with it until it falls apart or runs the life span of anything made out of paper and markers.
I enjoy making those simple things and watching them imagine they are useful. I enjoy honoring their requests to make something that encourages their play – it is fun to share the time with them.
I think the scripture explains well how our Heavenly Father honors us with the blessing of making something very special for our use every day. In the Book of Numbers, the Lord told Moses to be sure to “bless” (which means to “bow the knee,” to honor) the people of Israel by saying to them:
“The LORD bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you,
and be gracious to you…” 6:24-25.
Yes, I believe God wants us to continue to hear this blessing spoken over our lives with the promise that God loves and honors us so much that he daily “makes” something for us – he “makes” his face shine upon us, he covers us by his grace, and he gives us his peace. In that blessing, we can simply feel the presence of a Heavenly Father who enjoys being with us and watching us imagine what human life is supposed to look like.
In the Love of Jesus,
Tony Tench