A little bubble-burst of joy popped into my life this past week unexpectedly. One of my granddaughters from Pennsylvania came for a surprise visit with her precious little three-year-old in tow. Kaydence is quite the little bundle of questions and giggles and hugs. It was just what I needed to bring me back to the small, every-day blessings that matter.
I asked her if she would like to have a tea party and her eyes grew wide as she answered, "Yes! Let's have a Frozen tea party!" For those who aren't up on the latest Disney movies, "Frozen" is sort of a modern-day Cinderella - and Kaydence watches it at least once a day! It has been a long time since my grandchildren here in my hometown have come over for a tea party with Nana. My aunt's beautiful china demitasse cups are on a high shelf now, where they can't be broken. What joy it gave my heart to pull them back down off the shelf and let my tiny little great-granddaughter choose her favorite cup and saucer!
We brewed the tea and got some shortbread cookies on a plate. Kaydence couldn't quite figure out how to pick up the delicate little cup, so I taught her how to put her finger through the handle and then stick her pinky-finger out like proper ladies do. She practiced this skill over and over, finding such delight in her "Frozen tea party," and it blessed me abundantly to think that one day she would be telling her own children about the day her great-grandmother taught her how to properly hold a tea cup!
This little story is meant to underscore what the Lord showed me this past week. A loved and trusted sister wrote to give me a small rebuke about my last post regarding Pope Francis' Treaty with the Palestinian Authority. What she wrote was this: "I cannot do anything about the Pope, or Islam or ISIS or the downfall of America. But I CAN do something to help the twenty-something who has a sick baby, and the fifteen-year old who has questions about his faith." I felt the Lord spoke to me through this sister and I am grateful.
The main thing Jesus warned us about in Matthew 24 was to "keep watch," so that in these evil days we would not be deceived. I have taken His warning seriously, and have tried, on this blog, to keep my readers aware of what is happening in the world that fulfills the prophecies of the Bible, so that we WOULD be a people who watch and pray, as He exhorted us to do. But I was grateful to be reminded that a "Frozen tea party" with a three-year-old was an important moment in my life and in hers, because those are the moments we can celebrate! There is enough turmoil in the world; what we need is to get into the Shadow of the Almighty, drawing closer to Him, and closer to those whose lives we can bless and grace with His Love.