Children's children are a crown to the aged,
and parents are the pride of their children.
Proverbs17:6
I was away in Durban on Church Work on Monday (my day off) and Tuesday and got back on Wednesday morning. Brenda said that Caleb had really missed me. So I rearranged the rest of my day so that I could go and fetch him from school and take him for a toasted sarmie and milkshake.
As I sat in the Wimpy watching my son glowing from the joy of spending some time with his dad, I looked across the room and saw a couple who are new in the congregation sitting across the table from their grandson who was enjoying a burger and chips. The same happy glow emanated from him and even more so from them. I walked across to say "Hi" and learned that it was his 16th birthday... and they were all loving the moment together.
I went back to my table with a sense of gratitude and and happiness...
What a privilege to have and be family!
What a joy for us to be able to have these moments!
There's always plenty of excuses: we're busy, there's deadlines, the pressure is huge, and so on and so on. But I reflect on the power of a 45 minute window in the life of my son and of that grandson and am more determined than ever before to stay in touch with the fact that family does matter and that they are among God's greatest gifts to us.
Take a bit of time to reflect on the truth of our proverb today and make some decisions....
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
