Practicing to be a Grandpa

While on a short road trip, God is blessing me with the chance to practice being a grandpa. J is energetic, engaging, expressive, twenty-one months old, and strong willed. The second he saw me, he smiled. A moment later we were throwing balls back and forth, with him squealing with delighted laughter. He spontaneously took my hand when we walked down a steep flight of stairs, and is engaged in rapid language acquisition. Although not yet able to make sentences, he repeats almost any word that you say, and evidences understanding of a number of them.
     Yet all like young children he is inherently selfish, working incessantly to gets what he wants from his parents and anyone else around him. Today we were coloring. He has about a hundred crayons but the only one he wanted was the one i was using, usually within two or three seconds of me picking it up. J knows the word "please," so after the tenth grab of the crayon i was using i asked him to use it, not giving up the crayon. He clearly understood what i wanted him to do but would not say please. When i did not give him the crayon he clouded up although he did not cry. Eventually he took a different crayon and "traded" me for the one i had, which i allowed although were i to stay longer i would keep working on the please.
     A major part of our maturing as Christians is to recognize that the universe revolves around God instead of us. We are saved into His Kingdom to do His will, not our own. We help children exponentially if we shape their wills to obey their parents so they find it much easier to obey God if they enter into relationship with Him.
"Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, this is the first commandment with a promise, that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land." (Ephesians 6:1-3 ESV)