Two years old. What an amazing age. Innocence. Trust. Imagination.
My youngest grandbaby is Sydnie. The entire world revolves around her... as it should.
She is a princess. I mean really. A princess.
I had the most wonderful pleasure of spending a few hours one on one with her recently. Mommy had shopping to do and Sydnie has to be picked up from her "mother's day out".
When Sydnie saw me, her face broke into a huge grin. She yelled "Grandmama!" and ran to me with arms open wide for a big hug! Those are the best! It makes my heart smile just thinking of it.
We gathered up her lunch bag and backpack with all of her priceless possessions in them and headed out the door.
Immediately upon being seated in her car seat, she asked for her wipstick. So we dug through her bag and found her little tube of wipstick. Wipstick is a necessary item for Sydnie. She goes no where without having first made sure that she has her wipstick in place. She opens that little tube and rubs it on her lips a thousand times a day just to make sure that she is pretty all the time.
We stopped to get something to drink and within minutes the drink was spilled all over the backseat of my truck along with the bag of goldfish crackers that she opened upside down. Smile.
"It's okay Sydnie... Grandmama will clean it up."
She managed to salvage a few of the goldfish from the seat and then wanted strawberries. Once again, I browsed through her lunch bag and sure enough I found a baggie full of sliced strawberries! I gave her the bag and she managed to eat everyone of them without dropping or spilling. But her little face was covered in strawberry juice!
This was all within about 5 minutes of leaving the church.
Finally home! It begins. "Where's my wipstick? Grandmama, I need my wipstick." Well, the wipstick was no where to be found. I searched my truck. I searched her bags. I searched my purse. We looked all over the house wherever Sydnie had been since we got home. Couldn't find it anywhere. She asked and asked for it continually.
Eventually distracted from the wipstick, she decided it was time to play dress up. After pulling out several outfits, she changed two or three times and finally decided on a shimmering fairy costume with wings accessorized by her little pink high heel slippers.
About that time, I discovered that her Gaggie was missing. My heart skipped a beat! Her Gaggie is all important to Sydnie. She goes no where without Gaggie. Gaggie is her treasured and bedraggled baby blanket.
She has not thought about Gaggie. Yet.
Not wanting to alarm her and cause my little fairy princess granddaughter any distress, I loaded her back up into the car seat in my truck, and headed back to the church hoping and praying that someone was there so that we could rescue Gaggie and return it to Sydnie before she ever knew it was missing. There would be no peace in the house if Gaggie was not found. I was in a state of panic just thinking about it!
We arrived at the church lickety split! I unbuckled the fairy princess from the car seat, helped her out of the truck and started up the steps into the church building.
She automatically reached for my hand as we started up the steps. She had on her pretty little pink heels and took tiny little steps in the most graceful way as she held my hand and almost floated up those steps, with her fairy princess wings fluttering behind.
In the meantime, while she is floating in slow motion, I am trying to contain my anxiety and whispering frantic prayers that the building has not been locked up for the day. Woe is me if Sydnie has to spend a night without Gaggie! Woe is me if this Grandmama gets arrested for breaking into the church building in a well meaning attempt to reclaim Gaggie. Surely the judge would understand my plight. After all, the emotional well-being of a princess is at stake!
Thank goodness! The church doors were open! I am spared handcuffs and a sleepless night. Though I could not see or hear anyone, like a trespasser with my fairy princess in tow, I headed down the hallway to her classroom. We opened the door and there lay Gaggie!
I breathed a long sigh of relief, accompanied by a heart felt "Thank You Jesus!"
The fairy princess nonchalantly picks up her treasured friend and gracefully flutters out the door.
Back at home. Fairy Princess and Gaggie in place. Grandmama exhausted in a heap!
Then it begins. "Grandmama?"
"Yes, Sydnie?"
"Where's my wipstick?" Smile.
Can you imagine possessing the innocence and trust and imagination of a small child? To know that when you reach out, someone with loving hands will take your hand and help you walk the hard places. To have no worries because someone is looking out for you and providing for you even when you don't know you need it. To trust someone so completely that you allow them to lift you up and carry you. To float along without a care because you are loved. To know you are loved even when you make a mess of things.
God wants us to live in His kingdom with that childlike attitude.
Jesus said "Let the little children come to Me and do not forbid them; for of such is the Kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it." Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them. (Mark 10: 14-16)
