Young love

If you are not a regular viewer of Animal Planet, and I can't imagine why you wouldn't be, you may have not noticed the new show from Steve Irwin's daughter, Bindi--the Jungle Girl. Let me assure you Ryan has seen this show and is completely smitten with its star, Bindi. As he has become older, Ryan is more intentional about his time, and I have observed that he plans his activities around the times this show airs.

About a week ago he told me we needed to send Bindi his address and invite her to come visit so that they could play. I half heartedly replied, "Ok honey, we will." He then proceeded to remind me each day that we needed to write to Bindi. I really thought that will all the excitement of meeting the family in the mountains and having 3 days to play with his cousins, he would forget about Bindi--not so.

When we returned Monday, I began to look for an address to write to her, amid the comments from his older sister telling him,"She is not coming--get over it". I cannot find a physical address but we did find an email address, sort of. At any rate we wrote the letter and asked her to have her mom contact his mom so I could give her directions to our house. When he goes to bed he prays for Jesus to let Bindi answer his email. When he wakes up he asks it I think she has read his email, when he gets off the bus, he asks if Bindi has responded to his mail. While I admire his persistance, there is a part of me that so wants to protect his little heart from breaking. I hate the thought that he is going to be so disappointed, and yet there is a little part that thinks maybe, just maybe, this will be the letter to which she reponds and decides to come visit this little guy who is so 'taken' with her. I have tried to explain that she gets thousands of letters and simply cannot grant all requests, to which he innocently responds, "But mom, I know she would like to come visit us--I think she will come."

God knows the desires of our heart, and unlike we earthly parents who are so flawed in our ability to always guide correctly, He has a perfect plan for us. It must break His heart when he sees us spending so much time and emotional energy begging for something He knows is not in our best interest. He wants to protect us and has told us, "Above all else, guard your heart . . " (Prov 4:23). That is great advice, but not so easy to follow.

I am waiting to see what will happen with the Bindi letter; I am even more excited to see what God will do in Ryan's heart as he continues to learn to 'trust God no matter what'.