But I smiled yes I smiled

at the thought of your little hand in mine

we walked on rugged terrain

lots of ups and downs and arounds

you grew yes you grew

I turned one full rotation

and your were grown yes on your own

so many memories trapped in my heart

questions of a child wove through my mind

like glistening ripples in colored water

and I smile yes I smile

To each of you who have loved or parented a child this poem is for you. For without these smiling children our world would have little hope for a warm future.

Isn’t it strange how we allow odd occurrences to excuse how we approach and react to our everyday circumstances?  Our toast falling butter side down, which side of the bed we get up from, how much caffeine we’ve had or how much sugar we have ingested.

Of course if we actually kept track each individual circumstance, we would recognize that the odds of that buttered piece of toast will land on the buttered side is 50%.  The same odds that flipping a genuine coin will turn up heads.  We have no control over this.  Nor can it affect the rest of our day.  The same with getting up on the wrong side of the bed.  If you got up on the wrong side this morning, then go back to bed and get up on the other side!  We constantly look for excuses to make our own personal responsibility for things less internal and…

Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary. (Isaiah 40:30-31).

Did you ever notice how a young child will run, jump, and play all day long–seemingly with an endless amount of energy?  They may fall asleep in their soup at supper or while watching TV, but while at play, they never say,  “Time out, guys, I need to take a nap”

Then they turn into teenagers and you can’t get them to do anything.  They’ll sleep until it’s lunch time and then drag around all day like they’re exhausted.  I remember not too many years back when one of my nephews had gotten a job at our church that involved a shovel…

I remember as a youngster playing “hide and seek.”  And whenever I was “it,” I would count to 100 as fast as I could and then shout, “Ready or not, here I come.  When I was very young and doing the hiding, I wasn’t always “ready,” and was not yet hiding.

Way back in 1969, Larry Norman included “I Wish We’d All Been Ready” on his “Miscellaneous” album (Remember those vinyl discs?).  HIs words then have been applicable since the beginning of the fall of man.

Life was filled with guns and war
And all of us got trampled on the floor
I wish we’d all been ready

The children died, the days grew cold
A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold
I wish we’d all been ready

There’s no time to change your mind
The son has come and you’ve been left behind

A man and…