When little bundles of joy begin to grow up, they are on a phenomenal learning curve. My children and grandchildren were honest, quick on their feet, and extremely funny. I really enjoyed these early years of questions, investigation, and trial and error.
I was at home alone with our youngest daughter, Lynnette. She was very young and was playing with a few of her toys in the living room as I was watching a great football game. I think maybe it was the Super Bowl, but I am not sure now (that’s not important). Lynnette would hand me a tiny plastic tea cup and a little plastic dish and I would pretend to enjoy a snack while I was watching the game. We were both having our version of fun.
Then, I heard it. The toilet was running in the main bathroom upstairs. I always hate it when the water does not shut off and keeps running. The temporary cure for this running water is not that difficult but it is a little inconvenient when you are trying to watch a game. Being the good dad that I am, I asked little Lynnette if she wanted to do me a favor. She quickly responded with, “What do you want me to do?” I said, “Listen, short pause; Do you hear the water running in the toilet upstairs?” She listened and said that she heard it. I told her to go upstairs and wiggle the toilet and the water would quit running. She was quickly off carefully climbing the stairs. It seemed each step was a third her height, so it took a while for her to climb the stairs and I became entrenched in the game.
When she didn’t return a few minutes, I climbed the stairs and started calling her name. As I reached the bathroom door I heard her say, “I can’t wiggle it Daddy.” When I she came within my site, she had her little arms wrapped around the toilet bowl and she said, “I can’t move it Daddy.” She did not know I meant to wiggle the handle but she was trying to do what I asked her to do. I let her wiggle the handle and the water stopped running, and now she knew.
When I read that Jesus told me to love my neighbor, I was not so good at it. I did not even know who my neighbor was. Jesus not only told me, to love my neighbor. He showed me how and told me to try it, and now I know and it has become a choice. The same is probably true for you too.
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