The Yellow Sundress | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: The Yellow Sundress | Previous Challenge Entry
By Laurie Bahlke
10/28/21
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I am thinking about this journey we call life when my two-year-old granddaughter walks slowly towards me. She is barefoot, stepping through freshly cut grass, and the ends of her blonde wavy hair bob and dance as she moves along. She is cupping something in her small hands, looking down intently at them as her feet navigate the earth below through sensing and touching. The sky above is a pale blue, and the sun shines down brightly. My heart is full of joy seeing her and I wonder what it is that she will share with me.

She pushes her hands towards me saying, “the baby birdies are flying with their momma.” In her hands, the cracked shells of two, small blue eggs are nestled safely among the pudgy folds and bowl of her hands. We have talked before when coming across hatched eggs, that the birds have gone off to be with their mothers, flying in the sky, learning what they need to know. She loves to talk about this and will often say that “the birdies are flying away off,” meant to be “flying far away and off into the sky.” She smiles broadly, with excited giggles that echo through the summer air. I watch her carefully return the shells to the base of the tree from where she found them. She slowly lowers her hands and places the shells, one by one in the grass. She tells them “Goodbye” and to “sleep well.” She runs back to me and throws her arms around my neck. She squeezes me tightly and I return her hug.

I smooth her hair, breathing in this moment, as I feel a lump catch in my throat. I think about the world we live in; there is so much that is broken and that is fragile. There is violence, hatred, war. There is heartache, loss, and disappointment. The air we breathe is growing weak, the trees are being uprooted and destroyed, and the animals of our earth are slowly disappearing. I wonder what her lifetime will bring. It both saddens and frightens me. I close my eyes and see the shells in her small hands and my perspective begins to change. She is a child of God, being raised to know that she is loved and that He is in control of all things. She is learning to see the wonder and the awe in the world around her. She is being taught that to love others is the greatest commandment of all and that to forgive is to touch God’s heart. She has learned how to care for others, how to gently embrace what comes her way, and to find joy among broken shells.

The lump in my throat is gone and replaced by tears in my eyes. I feel a release of worry and a gentle wave of calm washes over me. God has entrusted much to our care. Despite our faults and sinful nature, He calls us to tend to matters of the heart delicately, to be kind in deed and word, to forego quarreling and instead look to forgiveness, to cup the hurting hearts of others into our hands, and to carefully guide them as we share God’s love. God calls us to rejoice as we walk our daily lives in knowing that He loves us and that we will one day be with Him.

My granddaughter breaks our hug and looks into my eyes; this could be the start of the do not blink game. Instead, she notices the tear at the corner of my eyes. She wipes it away, slowly, delicately, and then asks why I am crying. “They are happy tears,” I say, “because I love you so very much.” She laughs and says, “don’t blink grandma.” I chuckle and at once close my eyes. Thank you, Lord, for this moment, and the gentle reminder wrapped up in a yellow sundress.

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