WE MUST NOT FAIL THEM

THE WAY OF THE STROLLER

Today I walked with angels.

It is only a toy stroller, it resembles exactly the larger model that I have pushed many miles in one of the greatest treats that I can imagine.

That of taking my grandchildren for what they call a “strollo.”

As they ride and I push we share the tales of the day and the innermost secrets of our hearts love for each other. Each of us yearn for the next time the stroller comes out and we start another journey of exploration and amazement.

I see in my grandchildren, all of them, boys and girls, something that I can only relate to a relationship with God the Father and God the Son as experienced through the blessed Holy Spirit.

I long to be with each of them endlessly, and they feel the same.

When granddaughter one was born, her dad brought her to me immediately and within the first precious breaths of her life I was able to speak into her ear a secret known only to the Holy Spirit, her and myself.

The same with granddaughter two. Those secrets have caused a burn in their hearts that causes them to push away from others, to ignore toys and treats, and to focus all of their attention on me.

I am not worthy of their love, their attention, and their devotion.

In that action I see how all of those who hunger and thirst for the things of God should drop all of the desires and cares of this world and focus entirely on the Holy One.

She picked up a doll that belongs to a grandchild that will no longer play with it, and placed it ever so lovingly in the toy stroller, buckling the doll in and covering its legs with a small blanket, all the while whispering to the doll that it was being prepared for something very special.

We began our stroll, only this time she was pushing her little stroller with the doll in it as I walked along beside, speaking nothing only listening and learning, about absolute truth, about life, about forgiveness, about what a child feels for another child that is no longer a playmate, about love and about a child like faith in a man named Jesus.

This Jesus she knows so well, yet she has never willingly sinned and offended Him.

Someday she will; and I pray she knows Him even more and trusts Him exclusively.

She, her sisters, and her cousins know how to pray, and they know how to pray without ceasing, for their parents, for each other, for the things that they wonder about, and surprisingly enough about other members of our family that have not yet arrived, but they have seen them and know them.

I listen to their prayers and marvel at the wisdom that is found in their words and utterances.

As we walked along she began to recall what she felt was important about every one she knows, mentioning them one by one.

She even called the name of the one to which the doll belongs, and how she knows that he wants her to stroll his doll, and in her innocence she even said a small thank you to that one for letting her take care of Ernie.

We are given children to care for, to nourish and to see grow into the fullness of a life in the Kingdom of God.

We are assigned angels from the throne room, sent as guides, as protectors in times of troubles, and as helping hands for provision.

We are told to carefully entertain strangers as they just might be angelic.

Children are not angels, they are created in the image of God, and He loves them so much that He willingly became the sacrifice for the salvation of their souls.

Yet as I walked along I could feel the presence of the angelic host, I could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit, and I was glad that they came along for the walk.

She began to praise Him in the way that she knows best, by giving thanks for her Mom, her Dad , her sisters, her cousins, near and far, for her grandparents, and just when I thought she was finished, she floored me with a final utterance.

Just the thought of what she said makes me tremble as I realize that perhaps in some small way I am learning more in this stage of life about loving others than I have learned in the previous fifty plus years.

She stated at last ,as she looked me fully in the face as she has so many times, that

“and I have a good Poppi.”

Jesus said that there is none good only His father God.

She thinks that I am good.

I hope that what she sees is Jesus the Christ living in me and working through me, and nothing more.

Its about relationship, its about being blind to fault, its about forgiveness, it about a desire to see Him face to face one day.

TODAY I WALKED WITH ANGELS

It is the way of the stroller.