Laughs and Lessons from Kids

By Shirley Yokley Smith

I have written about funny things the children of my life have said and from them drawn devotional thoughts, relying heavily on Bible references. I have tried to be both explicit and succinct. The format of the book was intended to allow space for the reader's entry, providing for an impact of individual insight and pertinent experiences. Th

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rustik Haws LLC
• Release date: Mar 4, 2020
• ISBN: 9781952244506

Shirley Yokley Smith

My husband and I have known the joy of having three biological children and one foster child, whom we adopted. We have known the heartbreak of the unexpected loss of our daughter, Rebecca. I have eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. I retired from school teaching after 30 years. I am grieved that an affluent nation has sometimes failed to see the joy, as well as the wealth of our most valuable asset; our children, many of whom are suffering from a lack of love and nurturing.

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PREFACE

As a public-school teacher, I met many grandmothers who began the job of parenting anew when their grandchildren needed a home. Sometimes with difficult circumstances and hurting children, they adjusted their lives to accommodate the parenting role again. Because one child in every ten lives with a grandparent or grandparents, I have wished through the years that I could pay tribute or at least encourage these very special people.

After many years and many attempts, I have only to offer little laughs and lessons from my experiences. The process of living leads, at some point, to the discovery of the truth of the Scriptures, and so those truths restated here are not new lessons, but always worth sharing.

I am thankful for the love and the laughs and the lessons that children in my life have provided. I believe every mother, grandmother, and schoolteacher has just such a rich supply of memories. I hope sharing my memories will cause others to recall their own and listen to the wisdom from little mouths. I hope there will be lots of smiles, not only from this book, but from the book within each one who has held a child to his or her heart and listened.

Especially for you grandparents who have chosen to provide full time parenting for your grandchildren, I hope in some small way to encourage you to laugh and treasure the everyday routine moments, for God has packed eternal riches into them.

The little things in life really do become the big things!

Week 1

WHERE’S THE GRANDMA?

Monday

When a family of cardinals chose the forsythia beneath our window for the place to build their nest, we had a close-up observation point from which to watch all the family’s activities. I placed a small stool near the window so three-year-old Karah could watch family life in the world of cardinals.

She observed the mother sitting on the nest and keeping watch over her chirping baby birds. She saw the father bird bring food for the mother and tenderly drop a morsel into her waiting beak. Sometimes she saw the father exchange places with the mother and allow her to fly away for what appeared to be a little R & R. What a precious lesson it was in the way God has endowed His creation with a sense of family tenderness and care.

Karah loved watching how that family cared for each other, and one day as she watched, she asked. Where’s the grandma?

With that question, my grandmother heart was thrilled! Karah had sensed that at least one more family member was involved in child care. I smiled and tucked away a precious memory!

With family life fragmenting for many, grandmas, in increasing numbers, are vital family members. God assigned grandmothers a role in the lives of grandchildren, and we cannot afford to forget the assignment.

Only be careful, and watch yourself closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from you…Teach them to your children and to their children after them. Deuteronomy 4:9

Dear Father, thank you for the joys that you have given me through my children; and now my grandchildren. Help me never to neglect the work you have assigned me as a grandmother.

Tuesday

Where’s the grandmother? a question heard in courtrooms across the land. Millions have answered, Here! to the call for grandparents to again assume the parental role, this time for their grandchildren. God, in their weariness, please give them renewed strength and a vision of their value.

For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. Genesis 18:19

My Prayer:

Wednesday

As the senior citizen population has exploded, the question becomes more pertinent; Where’s the grandma? The answers are many; some are seeing the country in their RVs. Others are on the golf course or at the casinos. Lots of leisure and lots of options means grandmothers may be found almost anyplace. Some are found on their knees before the throne of grace, pleading for grandchildren in a sick world.

When you beget children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, act corruptly and make a carved image in the form of anything and do evil in the sight of the Lord your God to provoke Him to anger…you will not prolong your day…but will be utterly destroyed" Deuteronomy 4:25-26 (New KJV)

My Prayer:

Thursday

The call goes out; Where’s the grandma? The need may be for a brief errand or for a fulltime commitment to parenting. The need, in either case, is TLC.

For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. Ephesians 5:29 (New KJV)

My Prayer:

Friday

Two ladies have been named through the generations, for having passed their faith to their son and grandson: unfeigned faith, it was said to be. Casual, pretentious religion impresses no one but genuine faith blesses eternally. May our grandchildren see unfeigned faith in us.

I thank God whom I serve with a pure conscience … I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice. And, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. 2 Timothy 1:3-5

My Prayer:

Week 2

BE VERY CAREFUL, GRANDMA

Monday

I was up early to prepare breakfast for my family. For a few days, there were extra people in our household as two married children and their families visited. I tried to work quietly so that everyone could continue sleeping a little longer.

While I took things from the refrigerator, I became aware that someone, a very small someone, had joined me and had ask for a glass of milk. Anya stood very close to me with stood very close to me with blanket in hand as she drank the milk. When I moved, she moved too, causing me to almost lose my balance.

Grandma, you almost hurt my foot, her tiny voice scolded and as I apologized, I kissed her and assured her I would never want to hurt her. She gave a last piece of advice; You should be very careful. Not yet three, this little girl relayed a message that all grandmas need to hear; we should be very careful.

There is an old story of a town at the base of a mountain whose people depended for their water supply on a spring some distance up the mountain. The women of the town became keepers of the spring. They kept the water supply pure by walking the mountain trail and removing any impurities that may have fallen into the stream from which the townspeople drank. When the mothers and grandmothers became distracted and neglected the stream, illness invaded the town. It was the children who suffered most from the impure water because of their immature immune systems.

Mothers and grandmothers have always been protectors of the stream of social influences from which our children drink. Opportunities for careers and financial independence allowed us to become distracted, and like the mountain stream, our culture has become polluted. Sexually transmitted diseases, drug use, violence, and insolence all of which have left far too many of our children unable to cope with life.

A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more. Jeremiah 31:15

Dear Father; Many small voices are heard mourning and weeping

across our land because of parental neglect. Many others have been silenced by abortion.

Tuesday

Our children are being born into a world of peril. For many their future is ravaged by the forces of evil, from which they cannot defend themselves. Those who could and should defend them are otherwise preoccupied. The poetry of Solomon can have application to the tender crop of children who have gone unprotected.

Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines, For our vines have tender grapes. Song of Solomon 2:15 (New KJV)

My Prayer:

Wednesday

The privilege of parenting is unlike any other endeavor in all of life; For those who walk with one hand holding a child’s hand and the other holding God’s hand, the trip can be an eternally rewarding adventure.

Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children, a reward from Him. Psalm 127:3

My Prayer:

Thursday

Parents and grandparents have the responsibility to guide and guard mental, physical, spiritual and social development. God wants our children to grow in each of these areas. Dr. Luke referenced all four areas when he told of Jesus’ childhood.

Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. Luke 2:52

My Prayer:

Friday

Because God lavished love on us in bringing us into a parent child relationship with himself, there is an assumption that lavish love is the natural state of parent child relationships. Happy and healthy are the families in which this is true.

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

My Prayer:

Week 3

CLEAN BUT EMPTY

Monday

Bella accompanied her grandparents as they walked through a house that was for sale. After they had looked at one area of the house and then another, Bella said, Well, I see the problem. They don’t have any furniture!

Even to a four-year old, it was apparent that this house was not meeting the purpose for which it was built. Houses are meant to be furnished and occupied by families. Houses are places for warm embraces, conversation, laughter, music and chores. Emptiness is a problem in houses and in live as well.

Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life became a best seller because it addresses the problem of empty lives. Jesus used the analogy of an empty house to go further and say that emptiness is more than a problem – it can become a danger.

When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, I will return to the house I left. When it arrives, it finds the house empty, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go