childlike prayer

With all the changes in my life over the past year, I have been thinking a lot about my grandpa. He has been gone more than 10 years now, and sometimes my heart aches for him. I was thinking especially about the times we used to share in the garden lately. I remeber how each spring he would go off to some magical place, probably his backyard, and come back with a bouquet of pussywillows. I remember stroking them, and feeling the soft, furlike texture of each blossom, amazed that a plant could be so special. Grandpa would always send me home with a branch to remind me of the experience. (he did the same in the summer with 4 leaf clovers, which also grew in some magical place in his yard).

While I was reminiscing, I was taken by how little I really knew about the things I know he wanted to teach me. Why didn't I listen better? I really wished I knew where those pussywillows came from. I remember praying a quaint little prayer, "God, it would be really special if you could send me a pussywillow branch this spring." I stopped there: how absurd to pray for a tree branch! But the memories lingered.

I looked up pussywillow in the dictionary: A small willow tree that grows in the U.S. Not very helpful. "Maybe I could find some at the florist? I didn't have time for that. Oh, well." I thought to myself. Then the amazing thing happened:

On Sunday morning, I went for my usual walk, down our long road. To my amazement, there on the side of the road was a willow tree in full blossom -- pussywillows! They must have been growing there for at least 10 years, and I had never noticed them before. I quickly gathered a bundle and brought them home, displaying them fondly on the shelf. How pleased I was that God answered my childlike prayer.

As you know, I have been struggling with the idea of prayer for quite some time. God knows this too. Maybe that is why he keeps me in the primary class at church, so I can learn along with the 7, 8, & 9 year olds, how to trust him with everything and to share with him about everything! Praise God that He blesses the smallest prayers in faith!