Scrubbing Stains & Singing Hymns

I was only at my son and daughter-in-law’s home about ten minutes before the idea of playing our “airplane game” was brought up.  Soon Lyla and Owen were carrying their small chairs down the stairs to line them up in the foyer.  Then they pushed the bar stools from the kitchen out there as well.  We each chose a different color of construction paper, drew pictures on them, wrote our names, and Vwa! La!  Pretend passports!

The kids got in line with their pretend luggage in the kitchen, gave me their identification and passports to scan, and told me their pretend names while I pretended to be the “ticket checker.”  We then boarded our pretend airplane, brought our pretend pets with us, clicked our pretend seat belts, and excitedly anticipated our pretend take-off.

Oh, by the way, I was also the pretend pilot.

“Where do you guys wanna go?” I asked.

“Texas!”  Lyla shouted.  “Let’s just find some fun things to do when we get there!”  Owen agreed.  Owen always agrees with his big sister.

We looked out the pretend windows, and spotted some pretend chickens and cows “down there,” and even saw a pretend ocean in the middle of the United States, and laughed at the figures we saw in the pretend clouds.  The pretend snacks and drinks were delicious, and by the way – you probably guessed…  I was also the pretend stewardess.

I know we made it to pretend Texas, because I know we deplaned our pretend aircraft, but I think the kids had dinner after that, and it was off to bed, so that pretend trip to Texas will have to continue the next time I visit.

On my way out the door, my daughter-in-law hugged me and handed me my son’s shirt.  “Any chance you can try to get this stain out of the sleeve?”

Listen…     I have too many enjoyable moments in my week to list here, cuz I’m a glass-pretty-full-most-of-the-time kinda girl.  But this moment was my favorite of the week, and THAT, my friends, is not pretend.  It was truly a gift.

My boys are men now – all grown up with lives and families of their own, but it sure is nice once in a while to be reminded that I’m still Mum, and I still have a role in their lives.  I was tickled pink when Holly asked me to get those stains out, and it took me way back to Rory and Ian having the cleanest football pants on the team.

Well, I went to work on getting that stain out this evening.  Thank God for good old fashioned Fels Naptha soap!  But while I scrubbed, I remembered this hymn.  These words are also not pretend.  Jesus really can wash away our sin, and make us white as snow.  Thank you a second time, Holly, for giving me this moment!  I literally scrubbed that sleeve all to the glory of God!