Children Need Laptops

I was reading this quote on the side of my Starbucks cup: "All children need a laptop. Not a computer, but a human laptop. Moms, dads, grannies and granpas, aunts, uncles--someone to hold them, read to them, teach them." The quote was from General Colin Powell.

I thought about that quote yesterday and I'll probably be thinking about it a bit today as my daughter is home sick with a cold. She is usually so active, that the only lap time we get is when she is not feeling well and needs a snuggle. She spent a lot of time in my lap yesterday and I must admit that it was nice.

I had a friend and church member, Karen, in Corpus Christi who had two beautiful children. A girl (who was as active and curious as my little one) and a boy (who was a bit younger and quieter). Karen was hosting a Bible study in her home when her daughter, then about 4, ran up and jumped in her lap. She stayed for only a brief moment before flitting off and as she did, we noticed that Karen had a tear welling up in her eye. She said, "you never know when it will be the last time they'll want to sit in your lap."

Those prophetic words ached painfully when, a week later on Thanksgiving Day, Karen suddenly died of cardiac complications. The shock and pain of that loss to everyone was overwhelming. I can't imagine what it has been like for her children these past six years since Karen's death.

And so I try to hold my child just a moment longer in my lap because who knows what the next moment may bring. I hope I am around for a long, long time to be there for my daughter, to provide a lap in which to sit and a loving heart to share. But I also know that there will come a day when my lap will not suffice...my kisses won't heal the boo boos that life will throw at her.

The hardest thing about being a parent isn't all of the challenges of raising a child--it is loving someone so much that you feel as though your own heart is walking around outside of your body. And when I feel how wonderful and awful that is...I remember that God feels the very same thing.

Father...Mother...Creator God made us and loves us so much that when God looks on us, God sees his own heart walking around in the world. Each one of us is that important. So maybe today, we'll find time to sit in the Divine lap...to let God kiss the big and small boo boos that life has thrown at us...and find peace.

Journey on...