Enuff!

I am in the process of being taught a very powerful lesson. Perhaps it’s so powerful because I am being double-teamed. Perhaps it’s because it’s the inspiration and example of two unsuspecting gentlemen who are two and three years old. It seems it is all being orchestrated at a perfect time as far as the season of the year and the season of my life. Yes, it is having a powerful impact.



I am still getting adjusted to not having my three kids (who are now almost twenty-two to mid-thirties) in our home for Christmas. I am, oh so slowly, being weaned from the aspect of quantity of time with them to exclusively cherishing quality time with them. Not only that; I no longer control our time together even though I myself am now “free.” I miss them a lot.






I am not complaining; just sharing my heart. I will see all of my kids during this extended season and I am grateful. Not only that but I learn new depths to the season each passing year. Christmas eve is special and still involves a lot of bustle with good friends and family stopping in for “a bite.” This year it was gallons of homemade French onion soup, fresh rolls, and steaming baked potatoes from the farm down the road. Then there is the rush to get dishes done to the point where we can venture through the night to a candle lighting service. That is followed by a sweet nostalgic half hour moonlit ride home. The early predawn hours of Christmas are especially poignant now that I “am alone” (without kids). I reflect on so many things that I don’t stop to cherish during normal hustle and bustle. Soon as dawn breaks there is special time with my “bride, soul mate, and partner” of now forty one precious years (this week). It is special to sit and truly enjoy each other and the depth of our relationship sans a lot of gifts and distractions. This year was especially moving as we prayed together for special friends with troubled relationships and marriages.






My purpose is not to be melodramatic or to paint a glum picture. This is a very special season, not just as a time of year but in my life as a whole. It has been and is a very powerful learning experience for me. I ventured into the inner city darkness to witness and be touched by a multitude of families being given fifteen hundred free Christmas trees. I fought tears when a handicapped middle aged lady that I am privileged to work with resolving some financial challenges and life issues showed me the Christmas card she was able to purchase for her also handicapped son. Each day, and sometimes hour, brings new revelation(s) and lessons.






Perhaps the crowning point of these lessons came Christmas afternoon and evening through the power of electronic media. First through the internet magic of SKYPE, we watched (and talked to when we could get his attention) my two-year-old grandson in Colorado playing with his new garbage trucks. He had a stack of unopened presents and was oblivious to them all. He has found what made him happy. Soon there were Flip videos emailed from Pittsburgh featuring our wide-eyed not quite infant granddaughter and her “wiser” and “older” three-year-old brother. Although one of the videos was short it will forever be etched in my mind. My grandson reflected that “there were just too many toys” as he expressed his concern that there may not be enough room for them. And he has never even heard the story about “building bigger barns.”






Yes, those unsuspecting young men were and are being used to teach to teach Grandpa the powerful lesson of “enuff.” I am a blessed man and look forward to sharing in 2010.