Mar 5, 2011

Tough love and angels

Boys sledding on President's Day

Thursday was my day for Grandma duty.  As he got out of school, the 12-year old called me at his house where I was fixing dinner. 

“Grandma, can I hang out with Parker?” 

“What does ‘hang out’ mean?”

“You know, just hang out.”

“I need to know where you will be.  ‘Just hang out’ isn’t good enough.  Invite Parker here.”

Silence.  Finally, “All right.  I’ll come home.”

Three minutes later another phone call.  “Grandma, can I go to Parker’s house?”

“Is Parker’s mom there?”

“No, but his brother is.”

“I need an adult I can talk to there.  Invite Parker to come home with you.”

Silence.  Finally, “All right, I’ll come home.”

He came home shortly.  “I have no friends,” he informed me accusingly.  “All the other boys are going over to Parker’s.”  He was not in a mood to listen to anything, so I was quiet.

His younger brother was shooting hoops in the driveway with some buddies.  Today hoops didn’t appeal.  Picking up a baseball and a mitt, he asked, “Can I go across the street to the park?”

“Sure.”  He crossed the street and I watched out a window as he slammed the ball into the soft earth at his feet, repeatedly.  Clearly some prayer was needed.  Turning away, I reached out to our dear Father-Mother.  “What do you know about this boy right now?”  The answer that came was, “He has his own angels.” 

Of course!  I didn’t have to sort all this out.  God was already being God, already communicating to every one of Her children.  Telling each one of their worth, their purpose, showing Her love in tangible ways.  I prayed for some minutes until I could rest in the assurance of the angels, God’s very own thoughts, doing their communicating.

My grandson walked in the door just as dinner was ready.  “I found someone to play with,” he said in a pleased tone.  “He was a third grader, but that was OK.”  He stopped short of saying he'd had fun.

“Oh thank you, dear Mother-Father God!” quietly and to myself.

There’s more.  The other grandma, who was with the boys the following day, and was aware of Thursday's events, added this.

“After school I asked him if he wanted to invite Parker over.  He said, ‘Parker’s grounded.  He had all these boys over yesterday, and he wasn’t supposed to.’ “

Sweet!  Apparently Parker and his parents have their angels as well.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Perfect... nicely done, grandma Sandi!