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11-05-09 (Age of Reason)
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Stephanie McIver
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Nov 05, 2009 09:51 PST
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Steph’s Stuff
11-05-09
(Age of Reason)
My daughter called me yesterday to tell me that, despite all her
precautions, she has fallen prey to a nasty stomach flu. “This STINKS!”
she exclaimed. “It hit me when I was driving home from picking Lily up
at school. I feel horrible! What am I gonna do now?”
If it had been humanly possible, I would have dropped everything and
rushed up to Portland to care for her—or at least care for the girls
while she recovers. But I can’t. I’m in the last few days of school
and I cannot miss a single class. I have a speaking obligation tomorrow
night, a benefit to attend on Saturday, a baby shower on Sunday. I
can’t afford to be sick either. So I sympathized with her and told her
to call her husband. Maybe he could get off work early and come take
over for her. She’d already called him and he couldn’t. So I assured
her that I would pray. And I did.
But before we hung up, Lily wanted to talk to me. “Grandma?” she asked.
“Yes, sweetie, it’s me.”
“Is this the STEPHANIE grandma?”
I assured her it was. And I told her that her mama was sick and needed
her to help. “Will you keep an eye on Ruby and keep her occupied so
your mom can rest?”
‘SIGH!!! Yes, Grandma. I KNOW!”
Lily is seven years old now. She has reached the ‘age of reason’. What
was I thinking? Of COURSE she knows that, as the older sister, she is
responsible. I learned that lesson at an early age too, remembering the
weight of the world that sometimes seemed to rest on my shoulders. I
wished it weren’t so for Lily. Not yet. She’s still a baby! But she’s
not. She moved on into the path to adulthood when I wasn’t looking.
That sigh, a sign of her thinking, “How clueless is SHE? Oh well, she’s
old. I’ll just humor her—that’s the easiest way. I’ll talk it over
with my own crowd later. I’m sure they have grandma issues too.”
It seems a mixed blessing to reach the age of reason. In some ways, you
cannot wait for it. More privileges, more adventures. Greater
abilities and skills. You can read and write. You can decide things
that used to be the realm of mom and dad. Your personality develops as
you exercise those decisions that make up the details of your life. And
as you strive for independence, you become part of the larger society
and in most cases, try desperately to fit into your own little corner,
with friends of like circumstances.
The other side of the equation is the fact that expectations are also
thrown in. You have duties that must be fulfilled. You learn
responsibility and commitment. You have to do some things you’d rather
NOT do—it’s much more fun to run around and play all day, like your
little sister. How come SHE doesn’t have to make her bed or do her
homework? I remember learning that sad truth—Santa Claus wasn’t really
anything but a sweet story told to little children. I had to hide the
truth from my younger siblings the year I discovered that ‘Santa’ was
really my parents’ friend Les, dressed up in the red suit. (He wasn’t
fat enough anyway. I should have figured it out sooner—but I didn’t
want to.) And if I ‘fessed up and told them I knew the truth, would he
not have any presents under the tree for me? Sometimes ignorance is
bliss—but sadly, time must march on.
Lily is growing up. There are many more lessons for her to learn. Some
of them will come from me, despite my advanced age and lack of
‘coolness’. That will pass. I’m still Grandma and that position has
its privileges. She will see Jesus in me and I will take every
opportunity I can to teach her the word of God, as He reveals those
opportunities to me.
We too, no matter what age you are as you read these words, have reached
our age of reason. Our reason is love. Hope. Truth. Joy. The
confidence in the eternity of our souls. And the responsibility to
pass that reason on to everyone we can.
“For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the
word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of
men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its
work in you who believe.” 1 Thessalonians 2:13 (NASB)
His word works in us. Continue to study it, continue to meditate on it.
Continue to ask Him to show you the reasons you walk in the life you
are living. They are there. He has His reasons.
And I praise Him for them.
Fondly,
Stephanie
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