A "Real" Red Elephant, God's Faithful Love & Trust!

Today I want to share something with you once again, which I originally wrote ten years ago . . .

“My three grands are young; seven, four, and two years old. I love these ages, because they are just the right size for time in grandma’s lap – which of course, just fills my heart with joy! I know when my own children were young, they were the same way, but as they grew up, “lap time” came to an end. So, I treasure these few years when my grands are young. I enjoy the things they say and do which make me laugh and I love opportunities to snuggle them in my lap. 

Because they are still young, there are times when this is more clear than others. Today I’m going to share one such time with you. My grands typically spend Friday night at their Poppa’s and my house for a sleepover. Last Friday, my middle grand (four years old) brought their red elephant toy/pillow with them. It reminds me of the Velveteen Rabbit, so I’m quoting a bit for you . . .

   ‘When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints an d very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.’

Their red elephant is, ‘Real’. It was originally fluffy and soft and really cool – thirteen years ago when they received it – but now the tusks are worn down to just strips of fabric and the ‘fur’ is matted and worn . . . it is Real. It is loved and it is the reason their poppa and I made a 40 minute round trip last Saturday night to take it to them at their house . . . they forgot it at our house and ‘needed’ their red elephant to go to sleep. 

They had to have the red elephant at bedtime – while this grand has a great vocabulary and sounds older than they are, they really are only four! The red elephant is comforting at bedtime. They next Wednesday, when we were together again, they said they knew poppa and I would bring the red elephant to them. They trusts us! We love this grand (and all of them), understand they were little and we were willing to make the trip to make sure the red elephant got where it needed to be. 

The red elephant reminds me of our relationship with God. As the years go by, we may feel like our; ‘Hair has been loved off, and our eyes drop out and we get loose in the joints and are very shabby.’ But, these things do not matter at all to God, because He loves us! Really loves us! We are Real to Him; and so are our grandchildren! 

So, if you – or your grandchildren – are feeling a bit, ‘worn, shabby or loose in the joints’, take heart! We are dearly loved by God – look at Jeremiah 33:3 – 

          I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. 

And, don’t you just love how God gives us little opportunities in our day-in-day-out lives where we can point our grandchildren to Him and His great love for them? I was reminded of this – all because my grands' Real, red elephant was left behind! 

What opportunity have you had in your day-in-day-out life to point your grandchildren to God and His great love for them?”

As I mentioned, originally I wrote this ten years ago; reading it today brought a smile to my face and reminded me of how much my grands trusted us to love them enough to care if the Real, red elephant was "home", or not. My grand told me they were not upset at all, or concerned in the least when they discovered it was missing and remembered it was at my house, because they knew we would bring it to them and trusted us to care. 

It is a great reminder to this grandma to remember to trust God as well!