You who are young, be happy while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. . . . —Ecclesiastes 11:9 (NIV)
Joey, my five-year-old, announced that he was going to make his own Halloween costume. Then he proceeded to set up shop on the kitchen counter, asking for construction paper and a glue stick.
After a half hour, he asked me to dump out two cereal boxes so he could use them for robot arms. I normally would have said no, imagining weeks of eating smooshed cereal, but I was so intrigued by the process that I carefully poured cereal into storage bags and handed over the boxes. A while later, he asked for glitter glue and masking tape. Then it was pipe cleaners. Then watercolor paints.
After two hours of intent work, I saw nothing but a huge mess. But my son beamed up at me and told me he was almost finished and that it had turned out exactly like he had hoped.
Ten minutes later, he jumped out of his chair to try on the costume.He taped boxes to his arms, a mask to his forehead and construction paper shoes onto his sneakers. Then he strutted into the kitchen and proudly showed off his creation.
Joey looked great. And while his mask may be taped on and his costume probably won’t hold up well in a thunderstorm, I’m letting him wear it on Halloween. After all, I can’t bear the thought of him wearing a storebought costume when he’s so joyful about his creation.
Lord, thank You for children who see the world so joyfully that we can’t help but feel happy too.
