Out of the mouth of babes

This past week still saw Miss Trixie stuck in scenic Amarillo, Texas helping her father who suffered some real physical issues. Which means Ol’ Dutch has had to pull out some of the old Bachelor tricks to survive with her gone. What with shopping and cooking and cleaning and laundry already having to be done by yours truly, Miss Trixie is walking on thin ice as far as being needed around the homeplace. It's not that I do not miss her as I truly do but I found out if you stay away too long pretty soon you are not seen as needed near as much.

That's probably why my hunting trips don't last all that long as I don't want Miss Trixie to forget my handsome face and sparkling personality from lack of contact with the same.

Some poet by the name of Sextus Aurelius Propertius came up with the famous phrase, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” as “Always toward absent lovers love's tide stronger flows” in about 15 B.C. But from the look of his first name, he may have meant “abstinence makes the heart grow fonder” instead. For it is the lack of human touch that I think people miss the very most when a partner is gone and Ol’ Dutch is no stranger to those feelings for sure.

This past Sunday my son Bub’s was out of town for business and his wife the wonderful Tinkerbell invited me to go along with them to church. I had been attending of late with them and most of you know that any invite to be with Grand #1 and Grand #2 is going to be accepted.

So off I went come Sunday morning and met them there. Their church has coffee for free and donuts for purchase and Grand #2 had brought along her own dollar for some donuts. Normally, she is able to have one if her dad is there, but momma decided on a no sugar day and the tears flowed.

Church ended and we all went to the local Walmart for some supplies and Grand #2 looked and looked for something to spend her dollar on. She finally settled on some gum but didn’t have enough money to cover the cost. Good old Grandpa told her and Grand #1 that I would buy their choice and so at $1.40 per item they each got something sweet.

So, the dollar went back in the pocket, and we headed out the door happy as can be. Now it just so happens it was Grand #2 turn to ride with Grandpa and so we started for home. At the exit to the parking lot, we saw a beggar and my little soft-hearted angel gave her only dollar to the man on the corner.

Now the lesson here is not to give money to everyone you encounter on the corner but more about obedience to her mother in not getting a donut got her more gum than she could afford and the ability to help someone else at the same time.

We talked about that at length and how many things had to line up for that to all happen, starting with Miss Tinkerbell asking me to go to church the day before. That and missing out on a donut, Grandpa going to Walmart with them, Grandpa buying their treat and her riding with me on this occasion. If we all only knew to trust God that much with all our lives how much happier we all would be.

Sitting in line for a taco at a local joint, Ol’ Dutch prayed aloud, “Dear Lord help me to get a house.”  Grand #2 seeing a teachable moment with her Grandpa told me that I am not to pray for my own things but to pray for others. So, I asked her to pray for a house for me, but she then said that since she was going to stay there a lot then she can't do that either.

Man, I cannot win. But God is good and if we only look, He can be seen around us every day in everything we do.

Kevin Kirkpatrick and his Yorkie, Cooper, fish, hunt, ATV, or hike daily. His email is [email protected]. Additional news can be found at www.troutrepublic.com.