In the picture you will notice Sarah getting ready for our little "outing". My how times have changed. Look at that little trailer behind the bike. When you were a little girl growing up in Mantua, New Jersey, your dad would take you and your brother for bike rides. Randy sat in a seat on the back and you in the wagon behind and off we went to investigate the neighborhood wildlife. I can't remember any apple orchards along the way and maybe that was a good thing. It kept us out of trouble. There were plenty of geese however and that was problematic from time to time. It was difficult to keep you in the wagon. You were not the most behaved as I recall.
Well now, with the modern version of the wagon, Sarah and I were off for our outing on a beautiful autumn day. Sarah had juice, a few snacks,and off we went. She loves going on these rides in the neighborhood and I think her mother even more, especially when grandpa is around.
The rides of course take us up hills and some of them are rather steep. Especially those that lead to the apple orchards. Well, first it was a ride to the cows. About 200 hundred of them about two miles out. She of course wanted to get out of the wagon to greet them. They ran off, she said, "Good bye cows," and we were back on the road. Then she wanted to investigate what was up on the top of this big hill. So, I had to dismount two thirds of the way and huffed and puffed my way to the very top. Then we were in apple orchard heaven. The trees were full and by this time she and I were just wandering.
We were like Adam and Eve in the garden. There were no fences, but in the USA that doesn't matter. You are still prohibited to enter and take. Not necessarily the case here in Brazil. There would not only be fences but probably someone guarding the orchard with all the security equipment at his disposal.
Well, by this time we were on a slight downhill and I look back and Sarah had her eyes on the apples and deep down I was looking at them with envy as well. Only, I had "wisdom" and she has nothing but the "sin nature" fully in gear. Fortunately, I saw up ahead an apple orchard picker who was working this tree right
near the side of the road. I slowed to a crawl. He looked, and saw nothing but a starved child. Thank God for the way children communicate without words. Sometimes a look is worth a thousand words. That was the case here.
The apple picker said (not to me but to Sarah) "how would you like an apple"? Without waiting for a response he picked two. One for me and one for Sarah. He handed them both to me and wished me a good afternoon and he was back to picking. Well, I now had one very big juicy looking red apple in my right hand and one rather small juicy red in my other. Now, I just knew that apple picker's mind when he picked the big one and the small one. He certainly picked that big one for me and the little one for little Sarah. So, like a good grandpa, I handed her that little one because of course it would fit into her little hands almost perfectly. Sarah didn't see things that way at all. She knew the big one was for her and the little one for me.
Well, we got that straight right away and we were off again on the most enjoyable part of the trip. We were now coasting, talking between bites.
The greatest conversations that grandpa's have no way of communicating.
Let's just say, Sarah was talking, chewing, and singing her way back home, coasting down the hill and a picture is worth a thousand words.
Happy Mother's Day Becky and thanks for sharing Sarah with us and Emily and Grace, too.
Love you!
Dad
3 comments:
Thank you for sharing this story, Dad, it will be fun for Sarah to read it in your words when she is older.
You called this time with Sarah a "Divine Encounter". Help me understand what you mean when you describe it that way.
And then I'll tell you what I see in this story personally.
B
Becky,
I see these "chats" or times with people like Sarah as being more or less God's appointments. Most of the time it is them chatting or singing and me listening. It may just lead me to pray and let God bless them or just give me insight into what their needs might be. Most of them are a result of my asking God to use me. He often does and I think it is because He delights in using "nobodies". If He does a good work--It is Him and not me. My only problem is that in doing so we can often get addicted to coffee or coca cola. A small juicy apple was God's gift that day. Maybe I need to order up apple juice the next time I sit down with someone God assigns to me. What do you think?
Thanks for describing what you mean when you say they are God's appointments. I know that you always go through your day with an attentiveness to how God can use you to bless others.
I DO think that having a glass of red wine would be better for your health than all that Diet Coke you drink, but it probably wouldn't go over well with your supporting churches. So I will wait to bug you about that until after you retire. :-)
What I found interesting as I read your story about Sarah was how you related her desire for an apple to her "sin nature." I know you are making light of the situation.
But I see the opposite of sin in that story. The desire to have the apple may have come from her flesh(which is a God-given gift)or her humanity. But that desire and response is what is beautiful about her relationship as the created one to her Creator.
He made her to desire His beautiful gift, that would be pleasing to her eye and palette and nourishing to her body.
As He saw her gazing upon it I think He would have been overjoyed to give the gift (as the garderner probably was) and to have her receive it. As he saw her desire opening up He was so pleased to meet it with blessing.
I know that in your story, it would not have been hers to take as she willed without permission. But I think sometimes we feel so guilty about what is a God given desire that we suppress things that were meant to be expressed in communion with the Creator. And all the while, He's waiting for us to ask so that He can then respond and bless.
It is a beautiful story of Sarah being cared for by her grandfather and the gardener.
The fact that she wanted the bigger appple--maybe it was selfish, or maybe, somehow, she knew that was the apple the gardener meant for her to have. He does love to bless his little ones.
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