Thursday, September 15, 2005
HE DID THIS JUST FOR YOU !
Five yr old Madeline climbed into her father's lap.
"Did you have enough to eat?" he asked her.
She smiled and patted her tummy. "I cant eat anymore."
"Did you have some of your grandma's pie?"
"A whole piece!"
Joe looked across the table at his mom. "Looks like you filled us up. Don't think we'll be able to do anything tonight but go to bed."
Madeline out her little hands on either side of his big face. "Oh, but Poppa, this is Christmas Eve. You said we could dance."
Joe feigned a poor memory. "Did i now? Why, i dont remember saying anything about dancing."
Grandma smiled amd shook her head as she began clearing the table.
"But poppa," Madeline pleaded, "we always dance on Christmas Eve. Just you and me, remember?"
A smile burst from beneath his thick moustache. "Of course i remember darling. How cld i forget?"
And with that he stood and took her hand in his, and for a moment, just a moment, his wife was alive agn, and the two were walking into the den to spend another night bfr Christmas as they had spent so many, dancing away the evening.
They would have danced the rest of their lives, but then came the surprise pregnancy and the complications. Madeline survived. But her mother did not. And Joe, the thickhanded butcher from Minnesota, was left to raise Madeline alone.
"Come on Poppa." She tugged on his hand. Lets dance bfr everyone arrives."
She was right. soon the doorbell wld ring and the relatives wld fill the floor and the night wld be past. But for now, it was just Poppa and Madeline.
GOD'S AMAZING LOVE
The love of a parent for a child is a mighty force. Consider a couple with their newborn child. The infant offers his parent absolutely nothing. No money. No skill. No words of wisdom. If he had pockets, they wld be empty. To see an infant lying in a bassinet is to see utter helplessness. What is there to love?
Whatever it is, Mom and Dad find it. Just look and Mom's face as she nurses her baby. Just watch Dad's eyes as he cradles the child. And just try to harm or speak evil of the infant. If you do, you'll encounter a mighty strength, for the love of a parent is a mighty force.
Jesus once asked, if we humans who are sinful have such a love, how much more does God, the sinless and selfless Father, love us? But happened when the love is not returned? What happens to the heart of the father when his child turns away.
haha i TYPED this all out okay. its not COPIED. yes and chpt two when madeline grows up will be out soon (: TAG GUYS !
loved
