What a week, it’s been, already! Craig and Stefi leave for the Iowa farm, tomorrow and will be gone for 3 weeks. I’m trying NOT to think about it. But, I know that I’ll miss them, terribly. Especially Stefi, who has made my life so much more livable this summer. Her faith has impressed me and reminded me of the faith that we were all meant to have during all stages of our life, not just during our childhood years.
Why don’t we all have the faith and joy of a child? REALLY. I need to take a lesson from childhood. No wonder the bible encourages us to have the faith of a child. This child-charged faith is unlike any other. She is unshakable. Even with Grandma going through periods where she thought that Stefi, herself, was an assistant to the devil, Stefi didn’t waver. She prays during he day without hesitation. She never leaves out the important things to thank God for at night. And one thing that I’ve especially noticed and admired is the fact that she doesn’t just thank God once for something wonderful in her life. SHE thanks Him each and every night for everything little blessing that she’s enjoyed all summer long!
At the beginning of the summer, she set a goal for herself. She would plan to keep her room clean for 100 days! Well…if you don’t know Stefi, you don’t know what a remarkable goal this was! Her little room was impossible to find ANYTHING in. It was so atrocious that she couldn’t even bring herself to SLEEP in it. There were too many crazy things that could turn into monstrous nightmares in the middle of the night. So, I was very impressed by her goal and gave her a good carrot to lead her through as much of it as possible.
Every night she thanked God that she had been able to keep it clean for one more day. And every night she asked for his help to do it, again, tomorrow. I have to say that I really didn’t expect her to follow through to the end and was prepared to give her a consolation prize. That shows MY faith, I guess! But, SHE DID IT!!! And it’s been another month and it’s STILL clean! She was so proud of herself and the list of rewards(that I thought I’d never have to fork out) have been considerable.
She got new curtains for her room. She got new bedding. She got to go with me to a conference in Denver where we ate at her favorite restaurant, Benihana’s. While we were in Denver, she was promised the Zoo. But, the schedule didn’t allow for it and we ended up at the Ocean Journey, which I have to say was even better and didn’t take as much walking for my post-surgical legs and didn’t wear us out, either. To get these rewards, in Denver, it was necessary for her to be patient and keep herself amused through two days of my conference, 8 hours each day. All of the other doctors were very impressed with her mature ability to deal with it all.
NOW, since having gotten these rewards, Stefi’s prayers get longer and longer each night. She doesn’t replace thanking God for ONE blessing with thanking Him for ANOTHER. She adds the blessings to her list and the list goes on and on and ON!! Why aren’t WE doing this in our own LIVES??!! When I get to thinking about it, my list is SO long that I’d be praying for days and days!
Sometime’s if you’re praying with other family members, they may want you to hurry up your prayer and get to bed. But, honestly, does GOD really want us to rush through our prayers and get on with our lives? Does He get tired of hearing our grateful hearts or our many needs? So often we save our prayers for the end of the day when we’re exhausted and needing to rest…Or we forget them all together, forgetting that our conversations with God are like the air we breathe and that life just doesn’t go as well without that time spend visiting with Him.
Through all of the painful transition and decision, this summer, Stefi’s prayers have been steadfast, never changing. Even when I’ve found myself discouraged beyond belief as I’ve watch Mother slipping away from me and her reason, Stefi’s prayers have always remained, “Thank You, God that Grandma is getting better.” “Help Grandma to continue to get better.” Every-single-night, without change in her tone of voice. I pray, each night. But, some nights, behind the prayer is a faint acceptance that I may already have my answer and that Mom is failing instead of flourishing, in spite of the prayers…that I am losing her in some way…that maybe Mom is right is questioning her faith and God’s love. And then, I look at Stefi and I’ve reminded through her little loving eyes of the faith that I was meant to have, the faith of a child. THIS is the hope of the world, really. THE FAITH OF A CHILD
I hope that your trip to Mexico not only gave you some need rest and change of scenery, but also provided some opportunities to learn as well. I know that I enjoyed our talk and wish you all the best in your writings 🙂