WHY?

Why is it that when we can afford to eat anything we want, we can't; and when we can eat anything we want, we can't afford to? I am blessed. I can afford to eat out whenever I want, but I cannot eat out whenever I want because I will eventually look like the Goodyear Blimp and die of a heart attack. Yet, when I was younger and could eat more because my metabolism was better, I could not afford to eat out. The money just was not there to do so.

Why is it that we are better grandparents than we are parents? Not only do we have more time to spend with our grandchildren, we actually want to spend time with them. There were times when I did not want to be around my daughters at all, like at least once a month -- and sometimes more. They were not pleasant creatures. I loved them dearly, and still do, but they were impossible sometimes. Grandchildren, on the other hand, are simply wonderful all the time.

If I were to hazard a guess as to why this is true, I would say that God created life so that there would be a balance throughout. Obviously, it sometimes seems as if we are on some sort of divine seesaw: the times we are up we would rather be down, and vice versa. The times we would like some peace of mind we get chaos, and the times when we can endure chaos because we have the time, we get peace of mind.

The way to deal with it, or at least one of the ways, is to, as they used to say, "go with the flow." No use fighting the rapids because you'll lose. But the rapids eventually cease and the river of life becomes calm again -- until the next set of rapids. Then the cycle starts all over again. It is not a vicious cycle as it sometimes seems, but simply the cycle of life as we experience it.

Throughout it all, thankfully, especially when we least understand why things are the way they are, God is right there. God never leaves us even though we sometimes feel that we are battling the rapids alone. Of course, it is usually only when we've made it through the rapids that we realized that God was the one who got us through safe and sound. Would that we would have realized and sensed God's presence when the rapids were at their worst -- like when the house is overrun with teenage daughters! Sometimes it’s simply too difficult to do so.

Ahh, it's grandparent-time and been grandparent-time for a while now. I have shot the rapids and survived. And even if I can't eat all the food I can afford to buy, I'll enjoy what I can eat and save the money for our grandchildren's education.  And even more in, to spoil them as best my wife and I can, much to their delight and their parents’ sometimes displeasure.  But, then, spoiling grandchildren are a parent’s revenge.

Come to think of it, I guess there are good reasons why God made it so that I can't (and shouldn’t for all kinds of reasons) eat all that I can afford to eat: Grandchildren.  They are a blessing and, thankfully, not in disguise. They are right there, if only in our hearts and minds, to help understand the wonderful and joyful ways God works in our lives.