See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! 1 John 3:1

Grandkids fill my home with laughter and shouts and rowdy fun this week! My normally empty nest is infused with watermelon juice dripping down bare bellies, skinned knees, and lots more laundry than my average days accumulate.

As I picked the little guys up from school Friday, I was overcome with a deep sense of love. They hopped in the car bubbling over with details about their day. Within minutes a hidden agenda surfaced as one of them proclaimed he had a friend going to the park at 4:00.

I’m normally a way-too-structured-to be-spontaneously-fun kind of grandmom, but today my love poured out in accommodation, so off to the park we went. Before we even got into the parking lot, the guys realized that the Splash Pad was already open this mid-May afternoon, much to their surprise.

“Can we play in the water?”

“No, I’m sorry, I don’t have any towels with me,” my structured personality piped up. “We’ll come back another day.”

They were satisfied, so we parked and tumbled out of the car to run and climb and play on the “dry” playground while eagerly awaiting the arrival of the friend.

It was a gorgeous spring day. I sat enjoying the sunshine and gleeful kids running around. And as I sat there I began to think of how very much God loves me. How much more He loves me than I can ever dream of loving my grandkids. I was overcome with the beauty of the afternoon.

When the friend had not arrived by precisely 4:05, my eldest grandchild came to me with a proposition – could we run the half mile down the road and grab towels and come aback and get wet? Once again that deep awareness of how much I loved these little guys kicked in to override my plan, and I said, “Of course!”

We made the quick trek and returned to play until the park shut the water off for the day. It was great fun! I was reminded by those simple pleasures how many times God goes out of His way to show His love for me. I thought of how often His answers to my prayers are “Yes! Of course! I love you!” I was overcome with the awareness that He gives good things to His children just because we are His.

I know not all days are sunshine and rainbows. You may be experiencing a low time in life right now. But never forget how much God loves you. Never forget to look for those little “Yesses” and small blessings that He gives even in our dark days.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17