I Did It By Myself!
Greetings to everyone.
At church, during the recession, children who choose to do so can follow behind and wave ribbons. At the end, they run back in and cluster around the pastor, then shout "Go forth and live for Jesus!" This officially closes the service.
Xavier, from time to time, joins in. Always Daddy has to go with him; he's been too timid to do it alone.
Today, as the children were lining up outside the sanctuary, I pointed them out to Xavier and asked if he wanted to "do the ribbons" this morning.
"Yes!" Xavier said, then he ran down the aisle and out to where the other children gathered.
I stayed in the pew, but kept a watchful eye on him.
Xavier got his ribbon. He marched behind the recessional waving his ribbon with the other children. He exuberantly ran forward with the crowd clustering around the priest. He shouted out "Go forth and live for Jesus!" with everyone.
He ran back to me, his face radiant. "Daddy, I did it without you. I did it all by myself!"
His excitement made me smile at his growth toward independence. I also had a little foretaste of the sadness at his becoming more independent. Our little boy is growing up!