My son sailed into the house after the weekly run with his wife to the warehouse store to restock their pantry (they rarely eat out, all food must be fresh and wholesome and it’s a lot of work to keep an adequate amount of food on hand) and said, “We’ve got a Granny job for you today!”
He and his wife and her sister and her husband had made a last minute decision to head to Epsom Downs and go to the races. This is Queen Elizabeth’s favorite horse racing track–and she’s expected to be there today. The kids were to be mine for the day–and he also handed me an ant farm kit and said, “put that together for the boys, please.”
Within minutes, Adriana had ready her usual delicious, nutritious meal, what I call her magic in the kitchen. Slices of lamb quickly cooked, nice salad, and some steamed vegetables, and then raced upstairs to get ready while I, Ms Non-Mechanical herself, started working on the ant farm. Moments later, four extraordinarily glamorous people, along with one of the daughters (I ended up with only three children) headed out the door. This is not Ascot, with top coat and tail, but even so a casual day at the races means dresses, high heels and hats for the women and suits for the men. Wow! I, by that time, am getting covered in dirt with two sets of little boy hands determined to help me get the ant farm set up.
Fortunately, the anticipated rain has held off and the two boys have played happily in the backyard for the entire afternoon. These pretty indulged children have two well-stocked playrooms in the house, one upstairs and another downstairs, plus free range in the home office with paper, pens, colors scissors and glue always available. However, they’ve spent the afternoon playing with boards, bricks, water and mud in the back yard, making up all sorts of scenarios. At one point, Joshua did try to take the firestarter out, insisting he needed real fire, but I managed to squelch that one without too much trouble.
When I see this sort of activity, I see the image of God all over them as they let their unfettered creativity flow. They spend much of their time as proper English school boys, learning their lessons and their manners. Their parents are quite careful to set boundaries on behavior, and they are quickly corrected if ever showing rudeness or unkindness to each other or someone else. But within those boundaries, creativity freely flows, and the parents know there will be a lot of messes to sort out at the end of each day as these children explore their world.
Surely this is Kingdom of Heaven living–surely we, too, are to exercise huge creativity within the boundaries of kingdom of heaven living–and just as surely, we make a lot of messes in our exploration. But if we are not free to make the messes, we’ll never actually live into the heritage of the Imago Dei. I think this is why we are misguided when we insist on tight, neat doctrinal lines–there is no place to make the messes we need to make in order to learn about–and enjoy–the fullness of all God’s creation.
Well, it’s time to laugh about this. Just as I was getting ready to publish this piece, I heard a very suspicious crash. I headed for the downstairs bathroom and there found the youngest, Sami, looking just a bit guilty. The ant farm contraption was on the floor, dirt scattered everywhere, as he was trying to fill it with water from the sink. It was just too funny–I was in the process of cleaning it up when the adults rolled in from the races. Jonathan opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate the day and the oldest girl sang, “God Save the Queen” as we toasted one another.
Steaks coming soon, and both families will eat together, as is often the case.
I had managed, while watching the boys, to clean the kitchen, do laundry and straighten the house. I think I’ve just been hired as babysitter for life.
Cheerio!
