A friend of mine who is on his way to being a great pastor once said to me as I talked about how I needed to learn to be a good pastor the other six days of the week other than Sunday responded, "I do to Mike, but the only day I think I am any good is my day off." Obviously his statement made an impression on me.
A new project I have taken on during my day off is taking care of our yard. This has already provided time to reflect in deep and great ways in regards to our church and our work here in Oakland as I wrote about previously. Yet this week something very special happened. You see while working on the garden and yard is very therapeutic for me, Aidyn does not share this love. After about twenty minutes of making "sand castles" out of dirt she is ready to go inside the house. This week after her twenty minutes I was able to talk her into coming into the garden to work with me. She seemed to enjoy working along side her dad, and then she let out a scream, "Snakes daddy, snakes." I jump around and began to look, realizing there were not snakes in the area I began to look closely where Aidyn was pointing. As I leaned down to the ground I saw two large earthworms. I explained to Aidyn that these were not snakes but worms and worms were fun.
At first I merely held them in my hand and Aidyn would barely touch them with her finger. The she would point and laugh and push them with her finger while they were on the ground. This turned into a lot of entertainment for her. Finally she allowed me to place them in her hands and she responded, "They tickle me daddy." The worms were such a hit that I had to go and get the camera to get Aidyn's first experience with worms in the garden documented.
This was the little girl who when she would fall at the park would be upset because her hands got dirty, now playing in the dirt with her father on his day off. Not only playing in the dirt but playing with worms.
We are able to come a long way with the slightest encouragements. Just explaining that they were not snake was enough to get Aidyn's attention. I am realizing that in Oakland there are tons of worms. At first look these people look like snakes to me. Then I moved by God to check them out. I then find out that they are not going to hurt me, and before long I realize they tickle. Sometimes God provides that little encouragement that keeps me involved having a great time.
A new project I have taken on during my day off is taking care of our yard. This has already provided time to reflect in deep and great ways in regards to our church and our work here in Oakland as I wrote about previously. Yet this week something very special happened. You see while working on the garden and yard is very therapeutic for me, Aidyn does not share this love. After about twenty minutes of making "sand castles" out of dirt she is ready to go inside the house. This week after her twenty minutes I was able to talk her into coming into the garden to work with me. She seemed to enjoy working along side her dad, and then she let out a scream, "Snakes daddy, snakes." I jump around and began to look, realizing there were not snakes in the area I began to look closely where Aidyn was pointing. As I leaned down to the ground I saw two large earthworms. I explained to Aidyn that these were not snakes but worms and worms were fun.
At first I merely held them in my hand and Aidyn would barely touch them with her finger. The she would point and laugh and push them with her finger while they were on the ground. This turned into a lot of entertainment for her. Finally she allowed me to place them in her hands and she responded, "They tickle me daddy." The worms were such a hit that I had to go and get the camera to get Aidyn's first experience with worms in the garden documented.
This was the little girl who when she would fall at the park would be upset because her hands got dirty, now playing in the dirt with her father on his day off. Not only playing in the dirt but playing with worms.
We are able to come a long way with the slightest encouragements. Just explaining that they were not snake was enough to get Aidyn's attention. I am realizing that in Oakland there are tons of worms. At first look these people look like snakes to me. Then I moved by God to check them out. I then find out that they are not going to hurt me, and before long I realize they tickle. Sometimes God provides that little encouragement that keeps me involved having a great time.
posted by michaelstevensrev at 11:13 PM
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