For our granddaughter’s third birthday I flew out to celebrate with her and her family. I was so excited to see my son and his family, and in turn they looked forward to hanging out with ‘Meems’.
Their cute little family has a fun nightly routine. They dance to fun music to get the wiggles out, then end with a slow song showing off their ballet skills. From there they sit down and read three or four books together and then say their prayers. After that it’s off to bed with hugs and kisses, and then many times their mommy crawls in bed with them and cuddles them.
While their mom was tucking in her older sister, giving her a cuddle, the 3 year old asked me to come over to her bed so she could tell me something in my ear. She grabbed my head, and leaned up to my ear and sweetly whispered, “I wuv you!” I whispered back in her little ear, “I love you more.” She reached again pulling my ear to her face, and said, “I wuv YOU more.” As my heart melted, and I began to tear up, she pulled my head closer and she whispered, “leave.” I couldn’t help but laugh. She was so sweet, but she was ready to get a cuddle from her momma. After leaving her room, I shared what had happened with my son. He laughed and said, ‘welcome to my world’. He said that this is her nightly routine. She will grab his head, whisper ‘I love you’, then into his other ear, ‘now get out’. I love the transparency of children. This little one was tired, she had a long day, she was so happy I was there, but she was ready to be cuddled by mom so she could get some sleep.
If we want to be in any successful relationship, whether it’s our marriages, our friendships, with our kids, we need to be honest and transparent. This is one of the attributes of a child that Jesus asks us to remember and to live out.
And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3