One night Mama watched as her little boy was kneeling by his bed praying. He was there quite a long time. Mama thought he must have a lot to talk about. “I wonder who he feels he is talking to. Does he know God? We have never talked to him about God. I will ask him about it tomorrow.” She left his room silently.

She waited until everyone had left for school and work the following day. She and Jimmy were sitting at the table. “Jimmy, I saw you kneeling by your bed talking to someone last night. Will you tell me about it?

“Tommy told me he prays to God every night. He said God is a wonderful man and he listens whenever we want to talk to him. He said God is a real old man with whiskers, something like Santa at Christmas, only this is every day. And we can’t see him, cuz he’s too far away. But he does hear us all the time.”

Just then, Tommy and his mother came into the room. The two boys ran outdoors to play and the two mothers settled down with a cup of coffee and talk. The conversation had ended, but Mama felt she had better tell John about it later.

Some image of God, huh? Are you sure you have told your children about God? If you go to church and your children go to Sunday School, they know more than Jimmy, But they need more. Or what do you think of God. Do you think of him as somewhat like a department store and talk to him only when you want something or whenever someone is sick. He really loves you and listens whenever you call. He wants you to tell him all your problems, laugh with you on your jokes and rejoice with you when you want to be his child. It’s really important to thank him for his greatest gift of all. He gave his only son, Jesus,to come down to this sin filled world to die for all of us.

He was around when those courage and faith filled men started our country to be a Bible textbook whenever they had a question. He was around whenever we needed some shaking up And he will soon show up to send our country back where he wants us to be. Won’t that be something?

I was thinking the other night about some of the things my husband did like climbing trees for folks in our private campground in order to give them a better view. This one wasn’t nearly as dangerous, but it is one that i thought was one the kids, grandkids and grandkids would enjoy later. Then I thought you might like it too. So here it is:

The day Grandpa planted the plum tree was a happy one. He dug a hole and put in the fruit fertilizer and the water before he put in the, what looked to me, like a small branch! He watched it grow and grow it did! Every summer he would put in some more fertilizer and soon the small branch became a tree!

One day, he came inside all excited. “There are little plums on our tree!” He called out. I went out with him and saw what looked like some little pimples on the leaves.

“Are you sure they will become plums?” I asked.

“O yes, I’m sure,” he answered. “I will watch them everyday to see them become plums. And watch he did. Every day the little pimples grew into big green plums. and the green plums grew into big purple plums!

One night, after we had gone to bed, the wind began to blow. It blew hard too. Grandpa didn’t sleep much that night. He kept getting up and looking out the window, praying the wind would stop blowing. But it didn’t. Finally, he went to sleep and awakened to a still, sunny morning. The first thing he did was to go out to look at his plums. They were still there! they hadn’t blown off the tree at all. He smiled and thanked God for keeping the plums on the tree. Then he came indoors and said, rather smugly I thought, “I guess we’ll harvest the plums tomorrow.”

Tomorrow came in nice and bright. It felt good to be outside. It smelled like a fall morning, crisp and clear. I was glad this was the day we would harvest the plums.

Grandpa walked over to the tree, carrying his step ladder and his pail. But there were no plums on the tree! What had happened to them, we both wondered. Just then, a big, fat squirrel walked by, and i do say walked, not ran like squirrels usually do. His jaw stuck out making his face look very big , and his tummy was huge, so huge he could barely walk.

We could tell right away who had taken the plums from us. “Well, i guess his home is filled up for the winter and his tummy is filled up too. even if ours won’t have the good plum jam you make to put on our breakfast toast in the mornings,” Grandpa said as he walked to the little room with his ladder and his pail.

Grandpa died several years ago, and I still miss him. Yesterday, the plum tree died also. I will miss it too. Isn’t it strange how these little things pop up in our minds when they are gone? God gave us a real big gift when he gave us memory, don’t you think?