woodpigeon or kereru?

The preacher dude at church talked about different circumstances in his life where he had hurt himself (getting hit in the head with a branch, a nose break from a hockey stick!) and how he got restored. He then talked about our bodies and how our body represents Christ and the church. You could tell where he was going but again I am impressed how much I need to hear God’s word again and how it can be the same-ish message but I can still get so much from it. With each of his examples of brokenness, he said 2 things: It’s Ok to bleed (or break or get hit) and God is going to restore you. It was a simple and accurate reminder which sometimes is not heard in church – its OK to be sad and have down times. How we react is the key. I have been living that, this year – it was great to hear it up the front.
After talking with a dear friend today, I asked our girls a few simple q: What do you think God would say to a little girl? They replied: “I love you”. “You are doing great”. Next q: What do you think God would say to a little girl who had something sad happen? “Come to me”, said the 4 year old. “It’s OK”, said the 5 year old. Another q from mum: What do you think God would say to a lovely girl called …….. (their names were slotted in there)? They answered really nice things (I can’t recall them right now! Ahhhh my memory). And the last q was: Where do you think God is standing with you? “Right next to me”, was the answer from both girls.
Sometimes we need to picture where God is for us and also what he would be saying. I love it how these girls are so young yet they know some immovable truth: God is right with us, right beside us, cheering us on and comforting us. I will ask again, maybe on a day when life is screaming “ouch” at them. Maybe this is another way to help them in the grief they are experiencing this year. I hope so.
A funny things: After the girls got home from staying with daddy, we ate dinner outside for the first time since spring has arrived. It was lovely. We played soccer in our small concrete area and we read the final beatrix potter story we have. Whilst doing this, the youngest one was snuggling up to me. I asked what she was doing as it was a different cuddle than normal. “I just like cuddling your boobie mum”. He he, very cute. That same girl showed me her cleverness outside while we admired two beautiful birds. We were trying to work out what they were, I thought they were either “kereru or woodpigeons”. “Mum Kereru and woodpigeons are the same thing don’t you know!” Ahhhhh so clever, absent minded mum strikes again. So does bright little poppet!