Things We Carry

I delight in my grandchildren.  They bring me joy. God has seen fit to bless me with some time with almost all of them during their baby years.  Now I get to babysit once in a while for my almost two-year-old granddaughter.  When her momma carried her into their home for the first time I was privileged to see this tiny 3 day old baby lift her head off momma’s shoulder and solemnly look around the room…stopping to look at things that caught her attention.  I thought to myself, “She’s already curious…good luck keeping up with this one”.  I was right.

She motored around our house the other day when I watched her for an hour or so.  As she went, she picked up a shopping bag in which I was accumulating things to take to my other grandchildren.  Silly stuff- a St. Louis Cardinals ball cap, a tee shirt, some candy…the kind of things grandmas think their grandkids will like.  Not much, but for all her 21 pounds and 30 inches, it was a clumsy load.  And she insisted on carrying it and having it with her wherever she was.

I would pick it up and tell her she really didn’t need to have it; I’d try to distract her with something else and before I knew it she was booking it back to my bedroom to get the bag.  With that intense toddler ‘run’, arms back, big diaper bottom waddling and legs carrying her as fast as she could go, she made her way, as if to say, “Grandma I need this and I’m keeping it with me.

There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to protect this little one.  I love her with all my heart and since this was not anything harmful for her to have, I did not make an issue of it.  I was enjoying the way she processed her ‘need’ for this silly bag and whatever was driving her mind, she did not want to part with it.  The whole thing was adorable.

Later a good friend and I were talking about how God gives us times and opportunities to serve Him that match our ability to carry the load.  Even though there are concerning things outside of that realm, they are not what we are equipped to handle.  Oh, we can pray and help others who are supposed to take on those things.  However, some bags we do not need to carry around.

I imagine my heavenly Father, who loves me, watching me book it back to pick up the things that I don’t need to carry.  He watches me keep them with me, distractions even, from the things He has asked me to do.  He sees me through his love, and maybe, if I am not getting totally off track, he just smiles at my childishness and lets me figure it out on my own.  Hopefully I give Him joy.