Slice of Heaven – Bed Time and Easter
This last week was a total roller coaster. It started off with one of the most horrible days I’ve ever had only to end tonight with one of the most sweet experiences of my life, one I will never forget. I usually give my kids their baths. Bath time is usually pretty fun, hectic, and silly with an occasional melt down by either the little ones or the parents. Either way it is the end of the day and a routine we’ve had now for the past 3 years, ever night with few exceptions. Tonight however was different.
You see, I was asked to give a talk at my church this Sunday. When I was asked, it was last Sunday and I said that wouldn’t be a problem and I’d be happy to help out. There was no assignment for a topic, just to give your thoughts for 10 minutes about Easter. Now usually I would be the type to pull everything together at the last minute and rely on past experiences to carry me in my thoughts and preparations, however I wanted this time to be different. I started the week determined to do a better job of paying attention and really trying to find out what it was I should talk about. After Monday came and went, then Tuesday, and Wednesday I had already decided at least 4 times that I wasn’t going to do it and that they should just find someone else who could take my place. My week was just that bad.
After some sulking and introspection I decided to give it a try… I would sit down and read and see what came to me. On Friday, only a day and a half from my deadline, I sat down to do some preparations. I was reading an Easter message (click here) given in April 2010 that I still remembered. It talked about the hands of a statue of Christ in Germany that was put together after the war. They tried to piece it back together but found that they just couldn’t repair the hands. Here is what it said:
Experts were able to repair most of the statue, but its hands had been damaged so severely that they could not be restored. Some suggested that they hire a sculptor to make new hands, but others wanted to leave it as it was—a permanent reminder of the tragedy of war. Ultimately, the statue remained without hands. However, the people of the city added on the base of the statue of Jesus Christ a sign with these words: “You are my hands.”
After I read those words and a few paragraphs later I sat for a moment and listened to the sounds in my own home. My son was sleeping in the next room, his noise machine was playing its customary spring time rain lulaby and my little girl was out in the front room watching Opra with mommy and playing Legos. It was right then that it hit me and I read these words from the address:
True love requires action. We can speak of love all day long—we can write notes or poems that proclaim it, sing songs that praise it, and preach sermons that encourage it—but until we manifest that love in action, our words are nothing but “sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
I promptly got up from the chair in front of this very computer, walked into the front room. Laid on the floor and asked my baby bear if I could play Legos with her. I don’t remember the last time I just asked her if I could do something fun with her, something she wanted to do, not what I wanted. After that moment I realized I didn’t want to prepare anything to say on Sunday, I wanted to live it.
Today was a crazy fun day with a photo shoot at dawn, Easter egg hunt in morning, eating lots of candy with the kids, naps, dying eggs with friends, and then getting some one-on-one time with my son. The weather had been beautiful all day and I couldn’t get over how this perfect little breeze was just calling to me “Go fly a kite!” So I packed up my son, we headed to the store and bought a cheap little kite with a long ribbon tail. I was so excited to get out and fly it with my best little friend that I parked in a “no parking zone” and we headed out into a dirt lot right next to a police station. The look of pride and wonder that my little boy had as he held onto that kite flew it high over his head is one that will be forever embedded in the depths of my mind. It was so much fun to have nothing “important” to do…because he is my most important thing ever. My wife even came by and brought our daughter to join in on the fun. It was so peaceful and so much fun.
Just as I thought the day couldn’t get any better, I took my little girl home with me while my wife went to grab some allergy medication (seems the wind wasn’t a fun thing for everyone). So we headed home and I knew it was 10 minutes and counting before my cute little girl turned into Mr. Hyde if she didn’t get some food soon. I whipped up whatever I could find and we sat down to eat together. She was sitting next to me and laid her head on my shoulder, didn’t say anything except… “Hi Daddy.” She steals my heart again every day despite being the biggest stinkerbug some times!
Tonight she didn’t have her brother around for bath time, he was staying at our friend’s house for a little while, so it was just her and Daddy. I washed her feet, then her hair and poured the water to rinse her off as she closed her eyes as tight as they could go. We dried off after some protesting that she didn’t want to get out and headed off to he room to get dressed for bed. You see with my little one, there is an order to everything and they like it that way. Tonight though, I didn’t rush through it, bent on putting my baby to bed as soon as I could to avoid any tantrums or tired fits. Tonight was time for me to just enjoy her… and she didn’t disappoint one bit.
I brushed her silky soft hair as she sat in front of me until she declared that she was done and wanted me to “rockie rockie.” That’s short for “Dad, you know that when I go to bed you need to rock me in the rocking chair a little bit.” I asked her if she wanted me to sing her favorite song to put her to sleep. “Do you want me to sing ‘I am a Child of God’?” “Yes” came the faint reply. I began to sing and unlike any other time before, she sang with me, nearly word for word in her own little voice and sometimes garbled baby bear talk, but she sang every verse. I almost didn’t make it through the song as I fought back the tears and gave her a little squeeze. We sang it a second time as I gently laid her down she gave me her kisses, hugs, and honk-honk (honked my nose… twice). As I turned to leave the room she started to sing the song again and I said “I love you.” She paused in mid verse… “I love you too Daddy,” came the reply and then she continued to sing as I closed her door and stood outside listening and wondering what I ever did to deserve this kind of love.
Easter is just about that, LOVE. Plain and simple. There was One who came here a few years back, just the opposite of myself, who seldom thought of his needs and loved others enough to die for them and rise again on the third day. He said ““Except ye … become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” The Christ, the son of the living God, loved me enough to die for me and because he rose the third day I can be with my family for eternity. That’s what Easter is to me, and through my children he taught me why the kingdom of heaven will be filled with people like them. This week he gave me a glimpse of what true happiness is all about.
Happy Easter – Love, the Wilson Family
I love solving problems and creating something from nothing.