Any day is a good day to speak with God

CINDY TRANE CHRISTESON

“No longer is God a stranger, but a friend, a father, One who

delights to have us talk to Him and open up the whole of our lives to

Him.”

-- MICHAEL GREEN

As I walked through our patio at church recently, I watched a

little girl hop. She was dressed in a pink jumper over a white

turtleneck, pink tights and pink tennis shoes. Her cheeks were as

pink as the rest of her outfit as she hopped forward.

It was a brisk Sunday morning, but the sun was starting to break

though the clouds and make its first appearance of the day. I stood

and watched awhile.

She stopped, looked back at her father and smiled. “Hey little

bunny,” her father said. “Where are you hopping to?”

“I’m hopping because I love God and I want to tell him that,” she

said, and then gave her father a look that meant it should have been

obvious to him.

“That’s a great idea honey, you just keep hopping, and I’ll hold

your papers for you.”

“Here Daddy,” she said as she handed him something she’d colored.

“Watch me hop, because I’m going to hop a lot.”

Sure enough, she hopped some more, and her ponytail bounced along

with her. Her father watched and picked up several stickers that had

fallen off of her outfit.

I looked around and saw several pink-cheeked children with

stickers on their clothes, showing parents their papers from church.

One little boy had a paper covered with little multi-colored hearts.

“I made lots of pictures with hearts on them Mommy,” he said. “One

is for you, one’s for God and I made some others too.”

His mother bent down, gave him a kiss and thanked him. He let her

hug him briefly and then announced, “I’m going to go find Daddy

because I want a doughnut.”

He gave her his papers and ran off in search of his father and a

treat. “Looks like a head start on Valentine’s Day,” she said as she

looked at the different drawings.

I thought about what we used to do for Valentine’s Day when our

girls were young. I cooked special pancakes and cut them with

heart-shaped cookie cutters. Sometimes I cut their sandwiches into

hearts, tucked little messages of love into their lunch boxes and

wrote, “I love you” on their bananas. We made heart-shaped place

mats, special centerpieces, had a Valentine scavenger hunt one year

and did many other activities.

One year, I joined one of our daughter’s classes, and we walked

down to a senior center, where we handed out Valentines and sang

songs to the residents. How their eyes lighted up as the children

shared their love and time with them. I walked by their school and

that center recently and thanked God for great memories and the

creative ways he shows his love to us, and in turn we can show it to

others.

God touches lives in special ways through children. Next week is

Valentine’s Day, a day we typically think about sending greetings of

love to others. Valentine’s Day, or any day for that matter, is also

a great day to spend time talking with God, our friend and Heavenly

Father. I think he would be delighted.

And you can quote me on that.

* CINDY TRANE CHRISTESON is a Newport Beach resident who speaks

frequently to parenting groups. She may be reached via e-mail at

cindy@onthegrow.com or through the mail at 537 Newport Center Drive,

Suite 505, Newport Beach, CA 92660.