Christian Living

---

Larry Lilly's Letter Wednesday November 7, 2007

Regina Brett wrote a article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer titled, "Lessons Taught by Life" and one of the lines leaped off the page and I found that I was riveted to this wisdom:

"Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable."

I mused on this gem most of the day and while I usually write these letters before daylight on the day prior to publication, I am now writing way past dark in the evening and still thinking, Larry you must reduce the number of words in your comments. Though my children have done alright and when they hit a few hard spots as all people will, they brush themselves off, and keep on trucking, to use the Ivy League expression, I wish I had given them more of me.

I wish I had spent more time with them when they were tiny. Oh, get me right, I have precious memories, but as the hair goes and the glasses get thicker, and the knees hurt more, and the "Time" gets ever closer, I know I now spend more time with my pups than I spent with the kids. And the now grown, professional kids resent the time and mercy the dogs receive from dad. How oft the refrain, "Well, what's wrong with dad, if I had done that I would not have been able to sit down for a week." This is muttered in response to my lovingly forgiving one or all three pups for some lapse in their Sisyphusian task to be human. In the kids case I always seriously doubted they would ever be human and thus my actions were based on deep inner frustration and utter disappointment.

While not at the level nor quality of time spent with the canine critters, I do spend a lot of time with the grandchildren, though nowhere near as much as does grammy. She honestly thinks the grand children are the end result of God's creation and now after all these millenniums, God backed off a piece when they were born, and stated forcefully, "There, at last." I once made the silly mistake of suggesting that this near worship may be a little out of line with clear teaching of scripture and for that sane theological position, I spent quite a bit more time with the dogs.

A few weeks ago Brady, my grandson, spent a few days of his fall break with me. We had a great time and I was moved to wonder at the near status of deity ascribed to me by the child soon to be nine. And then I recalled the very few people in my life who at that age were held in awe by me. When I was a little older and became aware of their warts, I was seriously disappointed, and hurt deeply. In a child's mind, the adult to whom the child ascribes deity walks a precarious line and carries a precious treasure and truth be known, it is better if the child is a little older before your humanness dawns on them. It would be nice if the world were Lake Wobegon, where all the children are above average, but Lake Wobegon is a wonderful but imaginary place.

Jesus knew and taught about the tenderness of a child's inner workings and warned that the children are not to be hurt physically, emotionally or spiritually. The penalty for not paying heed to His warning is great. And the lack of proper attention to children carries a very stiff penalty for the child. Tragically too many children are not living what they will remember as a memorable childhood. Those of us, who know, must rise up and make a difference.

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2007 Use with credit

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE