Orange Beach Hat

     I very much enjoy spending time with my grandchildren and sometimes, I babysit for them. One day, I was caring for two young granddaughters, ages six and two. Finding a creative way to ignore the frigid outdoor temperatures of late fall, they were pretending that they were going on an outing to the beach.
     The 6-year old had decided to be the baby and assigned her 2-year old sister the role of “mommy” and designated me as a “person”.
Unfortunately, both mommy and baby wanted to wear the same orange beach hat, that “baby” was wearing. After squabbling about it for a few minutes, with both mommy and baby demanding to wear the hat, “baby” finally wisely advised, “Well, just PRETEND that you really want ME to wear the hat!”
     Mommy agreed with this logic, perhaps leaning on the conception of a sacrificial mother-hood, and this agreement lasted a few minutes, until the castle of blocks (sand castle at the beach) got knocked over. (by a wave?)!
     We learn a great deal from our children and grandchildren, who deal with the issues of life, sometimes in a more simplistic way, at least in the early years. Thankfully, our Heavenly Father doesn’t have to pretend to care for us or give us gifts, even as He gave His own Son sacrificially.
     However, perhaps when we find it difficult to share with one another, we can do like the little “mommy” grandchild and “pretend” that we want to share and do it. Maybe as we pretend that we want to do what is right, we’ll get better at doing it and really enjoy it.