Ecclesiastes 8:1 “Who is like the wise man? Who knows the explanation of things? Wisdom brightens a man’s face and changes its hard appearance.”
“Grandma, will you tickle my back for me?” – a simple request from my little five-year-old granddaughter as I lay her down for her afternoon nap. I have found there is nothing I would like better to do with my time than that. I lie beside her and tickle her back until she gently closes her eyes and falls to sleep. I continue to lie beside her and soon find tears rushing to my eyes. A memory floods my heart, a time when another little girl asked me the same question. I am crushed by the reality of the time I squandered. How many times had my daughter asked of me the same request? I sometimes just told her I did not have the time or I would do it later; of course, later never came. There were those times when I relinquished and gave in to her request. I don’t remember feeling a quiet stillness and contentment during these times. I think I remember feeling an urgency to get the task of tickling done so I could move on to the next task at hand. Tasks that I now find were not life threatening. The world would not end if there were dishes in the sink or laundry in the dryer to get folded. The loss of my daughter and the loss of my spending time tickling her back were life changing. I believe it has given me a gift I will forever cherish. I now understand the importance of staying in the moment. It is easy to stay in that moment during life’s big events. There usually are pictures taken to recall those moments. It is the simple moments sometimes that we take for granted, the ones we think will always be there. How I would give all I have to spend time tickling my daughters back until she fell asleep. The dishes and laundry could overflow and I would not give it a thought. Hopefully in heaven I will get a do over and hopefully there will be no laundry or dishes to do!
Lord, so many lessons we have learned after the death of our child. Cherishing those simple moments that we used to assume would always be there adds softness and sweetness to our lives.
– Michele
