The Lily-Garb of Innocence...

Last night we celebrated Grand-sonny's 5th birthday!

We have been blessed with five swift years of cute,

curly-headed curiosity and sweetness,

and once again as I marvel at the way

moments meld into years before we know it,

it sure makes me want to make the most of here and now!

Eager little sister, watching on the sidelines, suddenly leaned in with a hefty 

(greatly unappreciated) huff to snuff the final stubborn candles

 (you can imagine the response from Big Brother)

while we adults heartily assured him that his huff got there before hers. 😅

Checking out the next Lego project

(the ice-cream truck)

 Reminiscent of sweet summer days

Childhood’s pure garb of precious, carefree innocence is brief

Soon human nature starts to test sweet darlings with its grief

As moments mete the tide that ebbs and flows, composing Time

Across four-season shorelines rolls the rhythm of its rhyme

Ahoy, the joy of boyhood bliss must soon become a man

We who shower their cheeks with kisses should do all we can

To train and equip hearts and hands for childhood’s aftermath

As morn imparts momentous sands pouring to life’s footpath

To make the most of here and now is all that we can do

To waken senses to the ‘wow’ of Today, always new

To take our thankful place in the embrace of common task

And trust God for the grace that He will give us if we ask

The lily garb of innocence we all wore in our youth

Is handed down to those who trust us to teach them the truth

Then pray we look to He who is the Way, the Truth and Life

Before the Child must leave sweet play to face time’s tides of strife

© Janet Martin

Deut.11:18-20

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; 

tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

 19Teach them to your children, speaking about them 

when you sit at home 

and when you walk along the road,

 when you lie down and when you get up. 

20Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates,…

Ephesians 6:4
Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath; instead, 

bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 4:9
Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, 

so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen,

 and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live.

 Teach them to your children and grandchildren.

Deuteronomy 6:7
And you shall teach them diligently to your children

and speak of them when you sit at home 

and when you walk along the road, 

when you lie down and when you get up.

Psalm 78:4
We will not hide them from their children, 

but will declare to the next generation the praises of the LORD 

and His might, and the wonders He has performed.

Psalm 78:6
that the coming generation would know them--

even children yet to be born--

to arise and tell their own children

Proverbs 22:6

Train up a child in the way he should go, 

and when he is old he will not depart from it