Planting Acorns

It was another full moon. The last three times I visited my Grandchildren, The moon has been full in the enormous prairie Oklahoma City suburban sky.  I'm home. Stayed through Monday, because son had day off. He works 70 hr weeks. We tried to go shooting, but the range was closed. No explanation. He told me of plans to begin building their home for his grand kids any day now. Coming from a man who just turned 31, it didn't sound the least bit  pretentious...

"It wont be a Dallas style, with the front door hunkered from the relentless wind in an alcove cave of double bending walls. We are from the south; and we will have a porch big enough for glider rockers."

I did good with grand kids. They crawled over my truck, finding little bits of debris fascinating.

"Whats this?"

"That is a live oak acorn."

"Can we plant it?"

http://www.killerplants.com/plants-that-changed-history/20050215.asp

We scratched up a dozen with inch long roots already presenting and dug away fresh dirt from around the magnolia the mexihicans buried in an impromptu berm cause it was too wet to put it in back where Rhonda (Nana) wanted it! We had cans from fresh evergreens planted on the berm with roses and placed one acorn per pot.

"What's this?"

"That's a rake Jack..." (3; Happy birthday, Jack!)

"What's it for?"

"This...(and I rake some mulch around.) "

"And when you get tired of that, you can do this! " And I rared back and threw it in a high arc.

It stuck quivering like a javelin 30 feet away.

"WOW!"

I let him take my ball peen hammer and beat the hell out of my trailer hitch. I had a bit of top rail pipe, and struck it with the hammer in an underhand arc. It flew ringing like a wind chime through the air till it hit the ground. I read the Nancy Drew mystery- Gwen (9) gave me in bathroom time. The board game was trying, cause I didn't understand, and she wouldn't teach me well enough to win. The bed was an awkward height for sitting, and kneeling on a pillow made my knees hurt. She won. (Sneaky, Huh?)

"Paw Paw! We can get twice as much candy if you come and say you are ten on stilts in an old man costume..."

Had a wonderful talk with her when she asked me

"something daddy said he asked you once, Who made God?"

I said, "What you are really asking me, is what is God like... He is like us, but not in the cage of time and space. He is outside of it; like the way a painter is both outside, and inside his painting. See your dog? Is he afraid in a storm? (Yes...) Does he smile? (Yes) Can he show you he likes you? (Yes) He is much like us; enjoying his food, and his friends, fighting his enemies. But could you explain to him how a mirror works? (No!) No way, is there... Dog is to Man, As Man is to God. We can enjoy each other, and we are friends. But we cannot fully understand him, anymore than the dog can understand the mirror...

"So God is sort of like a parallel universe, huh, Paw Paw?"

"Yes I think so.. those are the kinds of things that hint about what God may be like...
And still he tells us he loves us more than we can understand! Did you know you are full of music?"

"Oh yes! I love music Paw Paw! and we get to sing at school, then it comes out!"

"That is true. But what I am talking about is radio waves. They pass through you, but you need a radio to tune into the signal and hear the music. You can turn a dial, and hear different kinds of music. We are like a radio, too. And God is sending the music signals. We can learn to hear his music, his message, and give it to others."

"In Sunday school they said  'God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." Shouldn't we be able to see him, if he is light?

"Can you look at the light bulb and it not hurt your eyes? And do you know to never look at the sun? On the pages of this book, the light from the light bulb is gentle on the eyes, and you get all the good from it with out the pain. Light is used best when it is reflected. God's people reflect his light into the world. Maybe the light of God being so strong it would hurt is why he plays hide and seek with us."

The most amazing thing. Her face, as she contemplated, strobed the beautiful woman she is becoming. It was a wonder to behold.

When she was small, they lived here, with us. She always surprised us with the way she would laugh at  sophisticated humor of the adults.

I got to clean up an offense from humor gone bad from seven years before. It makes me feel much better. Playing with grand kids; that was a toss up. Cause it hurts so bad to leave them and come home...