072 - Chapter 72

(Illustration: Pastel of The Sleep Fairy song)

This morning in church I sang solo a song with these words in its final verse:

I will not boast in anything

No gifts, no power, no wisdom

But I will boast in Jesus Christ

His death and resurrection

It seems to me when a person writes a book about their life and their faith, it must come over to some as self-indulgence or as an opportunity to boast. The ‘I’ unfortunately must be written, because it’s a person's own story they’re telling, hence that 'I' is necessary; but I hope I’ve conveyed so far in the telling of my story the importance of my faith in Jesus who has given me so much more than I have given him. He’s been at the centre of the love that has surrounded me and the love I’ve been able to give and share; he’s been the provider of every creative gift, every good idea and every one of my achievements. His guidance, his protection, his presence, have been with me every step of my journey, since I handed my life to him. He’s brought me through some dangerous moments.

And are we not meant to let our light shine, and light other lives in the process?

I read the most uplifting book recently, called Walking with the Wise, which had an amazing chapter on having belief in yourself as a child of God, and not selling yourself short or allowing anyone to put you down. The following excerpt is from that book, which the author Tim Binder, gave me as a gift, after I heard him give a speech at a celebration service recently. He quotes a writer called Marianne Williamson, who wrote these wise words:

We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world! There is nothing enlightened about shrinking, so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are meant to shine, as children do. We are born to manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone, and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

I’ve been so blessed by God, who I believe to be Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I count myself blessed in the family that He has given me, and the gifts He has showered on me.

Not only was I able to write many Christian songs at God's direction; I found I could write fun songs too which gave pleasure to our grandchildren. At this time in our lives, babysitting was becoming more and more interesting, as our three grandchildren got older, seeing them achieve all their milestones of walking and talking, and playing silly games and recording photos and videos full of laughs and chuckles. I thought it couldn’t get much better than this, but of course three other grandchildren were still to come.

Katie asked to play doctors and nurses with me one day and came over to diagnose my ‘disease’. She took me seriously when I told her that I had Floppy-ite-is, black earhole inflammation and tummy bubbles. Luke looked over at us smirked, and came over to join in treating me. He always appreciated the funny jokes and never once thought me mad! Bob drove us all over to interesting places, museums and play parks, and we loved to sing as we travelled along.

One day after hearing Dionne reel off all the names of Luke's favourite toys, and also his concerns about the sleep fairy coming with fairy dust into his bedroom, I wrote these two songs. Here are the lyrics below, but I only have a video of one of them; the one about The Sleep Fairy, but not this first one called Luke's Wish.

Luke’s Wish

“Wake up! Wake up! It’s time to play!”

said a voice, as I rubbed my eyes!

I’m sure I had only just fallen asleep,

And I got a big surprise.

The day before I had made a wish,

and that wish was now coming true,

that the toys in bed would all come to life - - - -!

Now what was I going to do?

There was Mort and Squeaky

 and Pirate the parrot,

Those were the first I saw,

Godzuki, and Trucki and Heli the copter

And Stego the stegosaur!

We went downstairs and raided the fridge

And they ate mam’s fruit and veg,

And they all asked for the tele on,

To watch, ‘Over the Hedge!’

I said, “OK I’ll watch with you,

And we saw it ten times that night,

Then we laughed, and began to fool around - - - - !,

Then dad switched on the light. (That’s when)

Mort and Squeaky and Pirate the parrot,

Froze and moved no more.

Godzuki, and Trucki and Heli the copter

And Stego the stegosaur!

Then I was marched right up the stairs,

Of course I started crying,

I told the truth, but felt upset.

Cos dad thought I was lying.

I explained once more to my mam next day,

As dad walked to the station.

When I told her my friends had let me down - - - - !

She said, “What an imagination!” (Then)

Mort and Squeaky and Pirate the parrot,

All peeped round the door,

Godzuki, and Trucki and Heli the copter

And Stego the stegosaur!

Well I frowned at them, and went to school,

I was sleepy all that day,

That night, I heard, when I closed my eyes,

“Wake up it’s time to play!

‘Don’t you know how tired I am?

I want you to go away!” (I said)

I’m just a young lad and I need my sleep - - - -!

Now’s not the time to play!

Then Mort and Squeaky and Pirate the parrot,

(slowly) turned back into toys once more (Pause - - -)!

Godzuki, and Trucki and Heli the copter

And Stego the stegosaur!

The Sleep Fairy

Here she comes

I can hear her tiptoe…

Lightly ‘cross the floor.

The little sleep fairy is by my bed,

I heard her open the door.

(Whisper)…..Pitter patter pit pat

Pitter patter pit pat

Pitter patter, pit pat pit

She comes at night

With sticky sleep

to place into our eyes.

I know it’s true, cos’ mam says so,

and she just wouldn’t tell me lies.

(Whisper)…..Pitter patter pit pat

Pitter patter pit pat

Pitter patter, pit pat pit

She knows I know her

Sssh she’s getting closer

But.. I have a plan in store.

Mam says, I can scare her away, 

if I sit up and shout out, “ROAR!”

Fast speed)…..Pitter patter pit pat Pitter patter pit pat Pitter patter, pit pat pit

https://drive.google.com/.../1UuwB3rjsDans8NbyN14m4N.../view

I was also blessed to have someone like Stephen, my oldest son, to help me to continue ploughing my way through publishing of all my drama, music and art material for others to access on the internet. Bob and I looked to him so often for help with the computer, and none of my resources at all would have been possible without him, and of course Bob.

I was also blessed by a constant, joyful yet hectic routine: Computer resources logged, singing and preaching outreach, missions, prison and school assemblies each month, the annual summer holiday club, time away in the caravan with Bob, babysitting and family get-togethers with our children and grandchildren, and mam, and time for friends too. Our family had grown so much, that our get togethers were large, noisy and quite hectic, but it was beautiful to see them all getting on so well.

That same year three year old Katie asked me what I ‘thought’ was her first ‘theological’ question, “Where is Jesus, Grandma?”

 I tried to explain as best I could, about Jesus being a friend and there for us, wherever we are and whatever we’re doing. But then as the conversation went on, I realised her question had been much more down to earth. She had just wanted to know where I had put the brown doll, all wrapped up in swaddling bandages, that we’d used in a crib scene at our church, because she wanted to play with it! 

When we visited their Christingle at a church in Durham that Christmas, Katie cuddled in as all the candles were lit. It was magic, and it was lovely to listen to Luke actually singing the hymns, whilst holding his dinosaurs tightly in his hand. I remember how he looked along the pew, and saw a boy looking at his dinosaurs. This boy had no toys with him, and I heard Luke say to him, as he gave him one of his dinosaurs, “Here I’m giving you that for free!”

How kind was that?

We can learn such a lot from children, can’t we? In other words:

“I choose to share, because I want you to be happy!”

This is what I hope my book achieves, to share with you what Jesus can do in the life of an ordinary person, any person, when they simply put their trust in him, and allow his light to shine on them, so that his reflected light can shine on others. Jesus died in our place on the cross, so we could come to know the full measure of God’s love for us, to set us free from the burden of sin, from our fear of death, to bring us out of a place of darkness into his marvellous light, and give us a sure hope of eternal life.

We can convince ourselves we don’t deserve it, but this gift of life, in all its fulness, is absolutely free, and there for the asking.

In Ephesians 3. 16-19 St Paul says:

‘I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

The verse I began this chapter with finally ended with the words:

Why should I gain from His reward?

I cannot give an answer

But this I know with all my heart

His wounds have paid my ransom