Thursday, December 10, 2009

Things I Could Do Forever

Have you ever seen that movie, "Groundhog Day"? The one where the guy lives Groundhog Day over and over again until he learns some lessons he's supposed to learn, begins to act nice and makes changes inside himself, and the throughout the whole movie he has to do the same things over and over again? I've always liked that movie for some reason. Besides being addicted to routines and needing stability in my life, I've always liked having certain things to hold on to. These kinds of things make me feel safe-- knowing there is something I can hang on to.

There are some things that I could just do forever. Recently I have discovered another one. Today the baby and I shared a personal pan pizza at Target. We had just finished some grocery shopping, and browsing the Christmas section for at LEAST the 18th time since they put the decorations out the day after Halloween, and were sitting in the sun. I didn't plan on sharing my pizza. Didn't realize the baby LIKED pizza. I had purchased a little box of rainbow goldfish for HER snack. But what do you know, she ended up eating part of my pizza. So there we sat in the sun, tired out from shopping, sharing pizza, just the 16 month old and I. And I thought, sometimes life doesn't get any better than this.

Oh but it does. Something else I could do forever: singing the baby to sleep at naptime (Okay, I admit it: I enjoy her naptime a LOT more than she does.) Just recently she has gotten big enough to put her head down on my shoulder when I carry her. So when I sing her to sleep now in her darkened bedroom, she puts her head down on me, and while I sing she rests against me, and I can watch her fall asleep while I sing Peter Paul & Mommy's "Animal Make-Believe Town" or "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." Her breath is warm against my neck, her little pink mouth is pouty, and I love her so much that I can hardly stand it.

Or moments that are more rare, which make them even more precious: the times I spend with my niece and nephew, who are 6 and 3 but going on 27 and 16. They both talk like professors but at the same time love fairies and " 'Piderman." Nothing else brings me more joy than when they ask me to read them bedtime stories, or when my niece wants me to have a sleepover on her bedroom floor...and she falls asleep with her arm across my back, and I can watch her sleep. I love that little girl more than I love life itself, and she looks like an angel when she sleeps. I could do that every night the rest of my life and it would never be enough.

The other thing I could do forever is stand in my church like last Sunday, a place that is currently decorated for Advent, and besides the attraction of twinkling lights and around 5 Christmas trees on the stage, the focus there is on worshipping God, which is something I could do forever. And guess what, this is something I truly will get to do forever, according to the Bible. (I guess its a good thing I like it so much then, or I would have a pretty tough time inside those pearly gates....and speaking of pearly, its a good thing I like sparkly and shiny things so much, because Heaven is going to be pretty much on the bright and shiny side ! ) On Sunday we sang Christmas carols that all focused on Christ, but I would imagine that in heaven we won't be limited to just Christmas carols. I imagine that since we'll have eternity to sing, we'll come up with just about every song about God there is.

And speaking of God, remember I mentioned that need for stability and unchanging-ness that I have? Well just my luck: Guess who talks about being the unchangeable one, the one who doesn't change, never changes, and WILL NOT change? You guessed it.
Malachi 3:6 "I the Lord do not change"
Hebrews 3:18 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." (I can count on this guy.)

2 comments:

Michelle's Day said...

i liked that movie, too :-) and i can REALLY relate to loving all the nice/fun things about being with special little kids. enjoying God's presence forever in sparkly Heaven -- REALLY something to look forward to!!!!! good post!

Anonymous said...

'What if there is no tomorrow?!?!! There wasn't one TODAY!!!!' :-) Love that movie. I liked this post a lot too because I don't often think about the things that I could do just forever. I don't think about them often enough I should say. The little guy falling asleep on my arm. My little girl wanting to hear every last word of her favorite story. Watching their eyes light up when I ask them what they think Santa will bring them for Christmas. :-) I think Heaven will be wonderful because we will be able to feel those things over and over again, and we'll never get tired of them. Never. :-)