I Held My First Grandbaby Today!

I walked up to the room where my son and his wife we about to deliver a baby boy and heard the angry cries of that tiny life. I was a minute too late to hear silence, but just in time to hear that astonishing noise! August, or “Gus” for short, has been anticipated but never prepared for! His middle name is “Stewart” which is Christopher’s middle name (my son) and was my Grandfather’s name (as in Paul Revere Stewart, born in 1900). Thus tradition is carried in a 7 pound 8 ounce package!

I touched Gus repeatedly and even played with his closed eyes and made his mouth form silly expressions…and he is not even a day old! I love children! I see forshortened in their frame so much potential…all of it for Good, to those who call God Lord! I also know how they NEED touch, crave it in fact, and bond to those who give it to them repeatedly! It’s how they learn, feel secure, grow and eventually become persons in the fullest sense of the word! I’m back home now, reading Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain by Maryanne Wolf, professor of child development at Tufts and am again transfixed by simple observations that we grow richer minds when we CONTRIBUTE to what we read! Interactive learning is not one-way, but multi-dimensional! Our classrooms must contain GIVE AND TAKE and less yacking! I’m preparing for Children’s Pastors’ Conference in Nashville next week and I’m emotionally clenched for all the pre-packaged, pastor-pushed, presentations that offer GIVE but no TAKE!!! I hope to make a difference as I push this string uphill, but we must give “Gus” a rich environment full of stimulation that ENCOURAGES his active contribution.

Proud Grandpa, Chris and Uncle Cameron, and of course "GUS"!!!