Keep Flying

“Do I have bones?” my three-year-old son timidly asked. He was lying in bed beside me as I attempted to lull him to sleep with a bedtime song.

“Yes,” I answered without further explanation. I could tell his little mind was troubled so I waited patiently to see how this conversation would unfold.

After several minutes of pondering, he finally declared, “I don’t like bones!”

At this point, I knew exactly what sparked this conversation. Halloween had just passed and spooky decorations were everywhere. Houses were clad with spider webs, witches, monsters and… SKELETONS. And it was those creepy skeletons that scared my little boy the most. He just did not like them. So, I chose my next words very carefully.

“You know,” I said. “God gave you your bones. He made us all with bones.”

Following his 3-year-old logic, my little boy concluded and then hesitantly responded, “I don’t like God.”

“But God loves you very much! That’s why he made you with those bones,” I explained. “Without bones, you couldn’t do anything. You couldn’t sit; you couldn’t stand; you couldn’t walk. God gave you bones so you can be strong, you can jump, you can run and –”

“—And I can fly?” he optimistically interrupted as the wheels began to turn in that little head of his and a spark reignited in his sleepy eyes.

So, without any fear that I would be squashing the dreams of a three-year-old child, I emphatically replied, “Oh, no! Little boys cannot fly!”

But he’s been flying ever since!

And now he is a 2020 college graduate.

Congratulations to my baby boy

who never stopped believing that he could fly – –

Never stop soaring!

Advertisement

A Year of Smiles – Day 285

Reason to SMILE #285: KIDISMS – VOLUME 6

Lunch request:

“Can I have boiled eggs cut in half? You know, like Deviled Eggs but without the devil!”

Hmmm. I’m not sure I’m qualified to perform exorcisms on eggs! 😉

 

 

 

A Year of Smiles – Day 230

Reason to SMILE #230: KIDISMS VOLUME 5

In honor of my younger son’s twelfth birthday, I present to you Alex’s Greatest Hits:

3 years old: Clean Up Time

Me: OK, Alex. It’s time to pick up your toys. I’m going to count down from ten and you see if you can pick up all your toys before I’m done counting.

Alex: How ’bout I count and you pick ’em up?

 

4 years old: Rock, Paper, Scissors

Alex and his older brother, Corey, were playing Rock, Paper, Scissors. Corey pounds his fist on his other hand while he says,” Rock, Paper, Scissors, shoot!” On “shoot”, Corey forms scissors with his hand and Alex — well, he makes a gun with his fingers and says, “Ha! Ha! I shot your scissors. I win!”

 

6 years old: The Lord’s Supper

The congregation was sitting in quiet reverence of the observance of the Lord’s Supper. The Pastor raises the cup and says, “This is filled with juice but we know it represents the blood of Jesus…So as we drink this cup…”

Alex sits up and loudly announce: “I’m not drinking that!”

 

7 years old: The Fog

The drive to school was eerie due to a dense fog that covered everything. Visibility was at a minimum and as we neared Corey’s school, the fog was so thick that you could not even see the school building.

“Look, Alex!” I said. “Corey’s school is gone!”

From behind me, I heard an evil little laugh erupting. “Bahahahaha! One down – one
million to go!”

 

8 years old: Spanish 101

Corey: Usted esta aburrido! That means, “You’re boring,” Alex.

Alex: You’re a burrito!!

End of lesson.

 

9 years old: Pizza

Alex opens up a box of pizza and sings “Aaaaaaaah” in his best angelic voice.

He closes the box and opens it again. “Aaaaaaaah,” he sings.

“It would be cool if it did that every time you opened the box, wouldn’t it? I wish there was an app for that!”

 

10 years old: Trust Issues

Corey: What did you see at the College Fair?

Alex: A dead dog’s heart.

Corey: Was there a live dog’s heart?

Alex: No. It has to be dead.

Corey: Then you just saw a dog’s heart.

Alex: The veterinarian told us it was dead.

Corey: You can’t always trust a veterinarian.

Alex: Yeah! Because they take out dog’s hearts!

 

11 years old: European History

While studying for a social studies test, I asked Alex what countries France colonized. He thought for quite a while so I decided to give him a hint.

“One is right above us,” I said as I raised my hand to point upward.

To that, Alex replied, “Mom, France did not colonize heaven!”

 

Alex: On Growing Up

“I don’t get why my voice is cracking!” Alex complained.

“Because your voice is changing,” I replied.

“But my voice has already changed. Is it going to change again?!? It’s like God changed it and then said, ‘No, I don’t like that one. Let’s try another one.’ ”

Poor thing! 😝

 

Although you may not be able to fully appreciate these SMILE moments, I thank God for every single one. Being this kid’s mom is a blessing from God. There’s no one like my Alex, that’s for sure! He’s given me twelve years of SMILES and I’m sure there are many more to come.

 

A Year of Smiles – Day 165

Reason to SMILE #165: BLUE FROSTING 

The Scene: Snack Room on a Wednesday night at church

The Snack: Sugar cookies shaped like surfboards

The Group: Six year old boys and girls

The Instructions: Decorate your own surfboard cookie with frosting and sprinkles. DON’T PLAY WITH THE FROSTING!

That one kid: 

His response: “What? Don’t judge me!”

How could I not SMILE at a blue faced little boy enjoying such a yummy mess?

A Year of Smiles – Day 106

Reason to SMILE #106: JESUS IS ALIVE!  WOOHOO!

The story goes that a children’s department at a little church was putting on an Easter play.  There were many children jumping at the chance to play the roles of Jesus and the disciples.  One little boy, however, had his heart set on being the angel at the empty tomb.  The Director wasn’t too sure about giving him the part, though. This little boy couldn’t sit still very long and was inclined to stirring up trouble.  He had never shown any interest in taking part in a church play before and the director did not want to discourage his enthusiasm.  So, despite her better judgment, she assigned the role of the angel to the eager little boy.

The role of angel had only one line but, as you know, this one line is vital to the Easter story.  When the women arrived at the tomb where Jesus had been buried, they were greeted by the angel which says, “He is not here! He is risen!” The little boy did not want to mess this up so he practiced every night before bed with his mother.  “He is not here! He is risen!” he’d tell her as she tucked him snugly into bed.  His mom would smile and tell him that he was going to be the best angel the church had ever seen.

Finally, the day of the Easter play arrived.  Everything was going smoothly.  The children were singing beautifully; they were standing on all the right marks and they were remembering all of their lines.  When it was time for the little boy’s scene, he excitedly moved into place.  The lights were cued and the girls playing the roles of the women traveling to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body walked up to the empty tomb on stage.  A spot light suddenly shown brightly on the angel which was the little boy’s cue to say his line.  There was nothing but silence.

A whisper from off the stage was heard feeding the little boy his line while the girls standing beside him were nodding their heads his way.  The little boy said nothing.  His mom who was seated on the front pew cleared her throat trying to get the boy’s attention to encourage him to say his line.  The little boy stood like a statue staring into the crowd.   The other children began to giggle and soon chuckles were heard all over the sanctuary.  What was the director going to do?

The director, recognizing the boy’s stage fright, knew he had forgotten his line.  She also knew that if the line was going to be said, she would have to say it.  But just as she was about to speak the first word, she saw the little boy’s eyes light up with excitement as if a switch had been flipped.  The director sighed in relief and sat back in her seat to allow the little boy to speak.

With a grin on his face and a twinkle in his eye, the little boy turned to the girls standing beside the tomb and said, “He ain’t here.  He done lef’ out!”  And the congregation stood and cheered.¹

No matter how you say it, folks, the truth is just the same.  We serve a risen Savior today and that’s all the reason we need to SMILE.  Jesus is ALIVE!

 

Image by symbols-n-emoticons.com

¹I do not know the origin of the above joke/story.  I have taken a few liberties and embellished it some for this post. 

A Year of Smiles – Day 40

Reason to SMILE #40: KIDISMS – ROUND 2 (Because 1 “kidism” is never enough!)

On New Year’s Day, my boys and I sat in church as the pastor issued his New Year’s Challenge/Inspirational Message to the faithful few who attended service that cold and rainy morning.  His sermon text was Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”  After a few introductory comments, the pastor questioned the congregation, “Can you really do ALL things through Christ?”

He then proceeded with four arguments for an affirmative answer to his query.  The first argument was that you can do all things through Christ if you want to.  Pastor called this the principle of Personal Desire.  He explained this principal by pointing out that most of us find a way to do the things that we really want to do.  If we want to go to the movies, we make the time.  If we want to buy a car, we find the financing.  Anything that we truly desire to do, we find a way to make it happen.  He then brought into question the nature of our desires: Do we want to serve God?  Do we want to have a deeper relationship with our Heavenly Father?  Do we want to further His Kingdom?  Finally, the pastor inquired of the congregation once again, “What do you WANT to do?”

Now at this point in a sermon, I fully expect my younger son to be slumped down in the pew or leaning forward with his head in his hands half-listening and half-daydreaming.  It seemed, however, that my son was fully alert and attentive on that particular morning.  As soon as the pastor asked, “What do you want to do?”, my son leaned over toward me and whispered, “I want to teleport!”

Okay.  So, he was just half-listening and half-daydreaming and he definitely missed the pastor’s point.  That’s my kid, though – never a dull moment but those moments always make me SMILE! 

 

Image by symbols-n-emoticons.com

A Year of Smiles – Day 9

Reason to SMILE #9: KID-ISMS

We have a cat.  He’s an outside cat but, of course, when it gets cold, he becomes an inside cat. Right now, we’re experiencing some unusually cold weather so our cat, who, by the way, has his own fur coat and is probably warmer than the rest of us, gets to live it up inside.

The other morning, after being outside for a while, the cat was let in by my younger son.  I walked through the living room and my son said, “I let Guster in.”

“I’m sure he was cold,” I commented.

My son responded, “Yeah, he was scratching at the door saying, ‘Let me in before I die of…’ Uhm…Uhm…”

“Hypothermia?” I offered.

“No,” my son objected, “I wasn’t going to use the science-y term.  I was going to use English!”

I never know what this kid of mine is going to say but odds are it’s always going to make me SMILE!

What’s the best Kid-ism you’ve heard lately?  I’d love for you to share your SMILES with me.