Remembrance Day

 

You stand proud in the centre of a community park where children are free play.

You kneel supported by your rifle outside the library and families relax inside reading together, free to explore the world through books with no cares for what is happening outside.

You carry a fallen friend forever holding him in your arms, while children laugh and run around the stone base upon which you will forever stand.

You stand head down in prayer as tourists sit on the steps leading up to your memorial exploring without of fear our large cities.

And you stand at ease hands resting on a stone cross remembering forever your friends lost in war.  While traffic moves freely on the busy street in front of you.

Your name is etched in these stone monuments, your sacrifice always present, in hopes that we remember the price that was and continues to be paid for our freedom.

Your heroism is thus remembered in communities large and small.

And

Today your name will be read aloud and we will remember you.

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2016 twosnydergirls

Reflections of Fall

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2016 twosnydergirls

Engaging Our Children

What are grandparent’s to-do with their grandchildren anymore?!

We were sitting in our local coffee shop when we overheard this question being thrown out into the universe. 

We put down our papers and listened for the answer and to our utter amazement and horror no answer was forth coming. 

The table full of grandparents (or so we assume) went on to complain how all their grandchildren want to do is play on their electronics, and so on.

We wondered out loud to each other, what those grandparents are doing when their grandchild come to visit?

Watching TV?

Cleaning the house?

On their own computers?

Sitting reading?

Sleeping in their chairs?

The above activities are solitary play activities and when two people are in the same room engaged in solitary activity it is called parallel play.  Neither party is influencing the other nor are they learning from each other.

We think this is the question that was really asking. 

How do grandparents interact with their grandchildren anymore?

How do we engage our grandchildren in cooperative activities?

The first step is to know what your grandchildren or children for that fact are interested in and to get interested in that yourself.

We find that trips to our antique shops, museums are a good place to stumble upon some common ground with our grandchildren and talking to them about our childhood, what we enjoyed doing.

The library as Dr. Seuss illustrates is a wonderful place to find common ground.  In reading to each other and/or talking about books you have read hours can pass quickly in this cooperate activity.

We don’t think that the problem is electronics or the internet. 

We wonder if we all have become too comfortable with parallel activities when what we need to be mindful of is creating cooperative activates.

Doing things with our children and grandchildren

instead of doing different things in the same room or house.

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2016 twosnydergirls

God Chose You

God our Father loves us.  He treats us with undeserved grace and he has given us eternal comfort, hope and love through grace. 2 Thessalonians 2:16

The scriptures this week again focus our attention on God’s love for us, the limitlessness of God’s love.

The Creator’s yearning to redeem all of his creation.

Each one of us was created by God, chosen and loved by God.  And we will be redeemed by God, not because of our good deeds because we are loved.

God does not want blind obedience, or servants out of fear.  

It our creativity, our ability to love and forgive, our willingness to help each other, our living through him that is desired.

For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living for all live through him.  Luke 20:28.

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2016 twosnydergirls

Lectionary readings: Job 19:23-27 a, Psalm 17:1-9, 2 Thessalonian 2:1-5, 13-17, Luke 20:27-38.