Listening and Choices

I'm in Idaho for a week of time with our daughter, SIL and grandson, Landon. If being with them wasn't enough - and it is - it's a new state for us to visit, there are beautiful mountains and lakes, and IT'S BELOW 100 DEGREES. We haven't seen a day of below 100 in over 25 days. They told us to bring jeans and hoodies and that just makes me giddy!

Anyway, it seems appropriate to share a conversation I had with four year old Landon, on the phone last week.

"Hi Grammy, how are you?"

"I'm fine, Landon, how are you?"

"Good"

"What have you been up to?"

"Well.... I didn't listen to the Holy Spirit and I didn't make good choices."

"Really?"

"Yes, well Hope (5 year old friend) came to my house to visit, and we were playing upstairs, and I told her to cut her hair. And she did."

"Oh my, how much did she cut her hair?"

"Well, only five pieces."

"Oh my, was her momma mad?"

"No, but mine told me Hope looks like a china doll now, and I didn't make good choices. And I told Hope to color her head with markers, and we both did, and hers didn't show up 'cause her hair is black, but mine turned green and red, and Momma said she liked it better yellow, like it usually is."

"Oh goodness! Did you get in trouble?"

"Well, Momma made us come downstairs and play by her and Hope's mama, but then we sneak-ed upstairs and we took down Dorothy (the goldfish) and Blue (the beta), and got cups and we scooped them up and we plopped them back, and we scooped them up and we plopped them back. And Momma came in and told us we didn't make good choices, and I can't have Dorothy and Blue live in my bedroom anymore til you come to see us, in a week. Because I wasn't kind to my pets."

"Where are Dorothy and Blue now? What did Momma do with them?"

"She put them in the bathroom and told me I can't play with them at all. And after Hope and her mama went home Momma made me go to bed, and she sang me a song, and she prayed with me (bet she did!) but she didn't read me a book, and she told me I didn't get to have hot chocolate with Daddy when he got home from fishing, so I had to go to bed and I was sad and I cried and I cried. She told me I didn't listen to the Holy Spirit and I didn't make good choices."

After not exploding from the gut-laughs I was holding in, I'm thankful for life lessons from an almost 5 year old:

#1 - cutting someone else's hair is NEVER a good idea. Hope now resembles a bit of a china doll, with bangs that run far and wide across her forehead.

#2 - whoever came up with washable markers deserves to be independently wealthy, Landon will only look like a punk rocker for a day or so.

#3 - goldfish make the perfect pet - they can stand a good amount of abuse, and diving from heights unlike cats or dogs.

#4 - listening to the Holy Spirit and making good choices from what you hear is never easy, but life starts the lessons early and they continue for years and years as near as I can tell anyway.

My husband's take on the entire situation - he told his 4 year old grandson, "see, women are already getting you in trouble. Better watch out!"