Tuesday, January 27, 2026
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Boy business
The mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house.
Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus and called him.
A crowd seated around him told him,
“Your mother and your brothers and your sisters
are outside asking for you.”
Our friend, spiritual director, artist and poet Clarence Heller’s grandson must be between the ages of our two youngest: Jasper, who will be 7 in July and Finn, who will be one on March 3. Our grandchildren are precious to Clarence and precious to us. Clarence has this to say about his grandson, and how they spend their time together once or twice a day …
He likes me to talk about worms
and show him pictures on my phone
as he does his bathroom business.
He is the essence of what is good in this world.
I am amazed that my heart can’t begin to hold
all the love I have for him, and how he delights me,
and how I so enjoy being with him.
But what amazes me more,
is that he feels the same toward me.
When I watch how Miles (who is 9) and Jasper relax and enjoy time together with each other and with us, especially when the time is unrehearsed and mostly unplanned, I too am amazed. Recently we spent a quiet day in front of a fire, reading. We do puzzles and play Rummy, Yahtzee, Sorry, War and chess. In the car traveling around Austin on our Adventure Fridays, we’ve been listening to Great Battles for Boys, audio sessions describing in just enough detail every war since the days of Alexander the Great to Vietnam, written and performed by a history teacher named Joe, for his own son.
For Christmas we gave Miles a Topgolf gift certificate, and we’ll go back sometime soon to knock down the Angry Birds shack with colored golf balls. At Topgolf, the bays are heated, which even in Austin is a big plus in February.
Yesterday was a snow day in Austin for nearly every school, and although Finn is teething and felt a little fevery, Miles and Jasper spent most of the morning shoveling and then trying to ambush each other with snowballs from hideouts they did their best to disguise. They brought in a bowl of fresh snow for Finn to play with, which he immediately began to eat. And as usual when those boys are together, the world around them seemed much more bright and beautiful than it was before.
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.
The USCCB lectionary invites us to read this verse over and over throughout the year. And so I do. And so do the millions of others who follow the Catholic bishops’ lectionary.
Don’t all us adults want to return to childhood’s innocence and openheartedness, eyes wide open and mouth wanting to taste everything (EVERYTHING!!) – endless days that are just packed, when the so-much-less-complicated-than-we-make-them “mysteries of the Kingdom” are revealed minute-by-minute, day by day, and we don’t even think about it? When like the Green Lady in Perelandra, we just say yes? Cat’s in the cradle, and the silver spoon, little boy blue and the man in the moon?
What do we get in return for our passage out of innocence? Along with the minefield of less than complete “attachment” to our parents, we inherit the consequences of what Christians call the Fall – that infamous moment when the first humans overstepped God’s permissions and claimed freedom they couldn’t quite handle. (And WE can’t quite handle those “freedoms” now, either.) But we also grow in our ability to reason and name our experiences, thoughts, emotions, and desires. And better yet, we learn to imagine and create, and to rejoice in what we’ve made or might make tomorrow.
Of course we want to grow up! And of course we want to retain our innocence. I, at least, want my cake and want to eat it too.
Miles, Jasper, Finn, and all the children of the world don’t get to choose childhood any more than we do. For awhile they are the little ones Jesus loves so much. Then they become anxious to move through “adulting,” when along with the confusion and pain, they are soon offered opportunities to introduce and shepherd the next group of kiddos into the kingdom of heaven. Click on the link, and listen again to the joy in the voice of mom when she sits on the floor with her boys, and they look up at her, and they love her, and she loves them.
What did you think of the snow, she asks. “Awesome!” And Finn just keeps eating it up.
Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord!
Lift up, O gates, your lintels;
reach up, you ancient portals,
that the king of glory may come in!
When I’m with our grandkids, I can’t help but relax. The kingdom of God is at hand. Don’t worry, be happy. Keep calm and listen to the warm. Say YES to what God has to give today, this hour, this instant … and forget to be afraid.
 (2 Samuel 6, Psalm 24, Matthew 11, Mark 3)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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