monkey see... monkey do

One of the joys of being a grandparent is watching your children pay for their raising. The little ones we loved and lived with as they grew now provide for us endless hours of enjoyment and occasional flat out revenge as they live with and love their little ones. The wheel of life can be a pleasure indeed.
Mason, my four year old grandson, talked to me yesterday on the phone. He was playing farm, feeding the cows hay and driving his blue tractor just like Pop’s. He knows what Pop does because he rides the tractor with Pop doing chores when he visits us here at Sabbath Rest Farm. A tractor is a fun toy for boys be they little or great big. Mason drives his tractor, pulling the little wagon loaded with grass clippings, stops and feeds the pretend cows that have names just like Pop’s cows.
Alison called laughing and asking what she must do with Aidan who has learned a particularly effective four letter word, He only uses this word in the car, driving, when his father or mother make a driving error. She knows this word will soon migrate to other areas of his life... church, school, family gatherings... and wants to nip it in the bud. She and David can’t decide which one of them is responsible for his learning this word but they both feel responsible for managing his vocabulary. I was no help at all because this word is one of my favorites for moments of stress. They have decided to substitute “jeepers” as the new family four letter word.
If flattery is the sincerest form of admiration, children flatter us in all their growing up by appropriating our behavior, our language, our beliefs, our quirks and peculiarities. I remember trying to talk “Virginian”. I loved the sound of my Aunt Peg’s pronunciation of the “ou” in words like house and about, the rhythm of the Tidewater language that flows like the rivers that run through it. I could have pulled it off but I sounded funny in South Georgia and my friends at school thought I was nutty.
My Bible verse for the day... Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children...is found in the letter of Ephesians. How can I imitate God? I can’t see God like I see people. I can’t hear God’s voice speaking out loud (at least not yet). My eyes and ears of faith see God at work and hear God’s voice speaking through the world that surrounds me. But it is faith, specifically the Christian faith, that informs my interpretation of these happenings.
That is not so very different from what happens with our children, though. They watch us, observe us and often don’t understand what they are seeing or hearing. They hope to be grown ups like us so they imitate our behavior hoping the behavior will change them in some way. Mason practices throwing hay because that is what grown up farmers do. Aidan practices his new word because that is what grown ups say. Neither child understands the reality behind the actions but they are trying to be like the grown ups they know and love.
That is all God wants from us. We don’t have to understand. We can’t fully understand. All we have to do is imitate what we know of God, even if it is only a small part of the total sum of God’s reality. If I could imitate God in only one way, I would choose to love the way God loves. God’s love comes to us so freely, unrestrained by oughts and shoulds, flowing in and around and through our bodies and souls. It is the unseen loving laughing taking delight in Presence that offers us a new way to live as beloved children. Today I will, as a beloved child of God, imitate the Loving One with all I see and speak and touch... students in classes, donkeys, horses, cats, dogs, mama, children and grandchildren, Michael, friends. I will love because I was first loved by the One who created me. Thanks be to God.