Bubbles

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again according to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." I Peter 1:3-5

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Nita sent us her book, Strength in Weakness. It is a compilation of poems she has composed over the years. We have really enjoyed them!

One poem in particular, Bubbles, seemed like a great one to read with the boys. It touches on many ideas and principles we have often discussed as a family and has some great word pictures. She has given me permission to share it, so here it is:

Bubbles

Today I watched the bubbles,
That floated through the sky.
So gentle and so graceful,
Their colors floated by.

And infant's hand had blown them;
A darling little boy;
So light at heart and cheerful,
He found a moment's joy.

So like the world's brief pleasures,
They won't remain in hand.

They linger but a moment,
And pop if e'er they land.

When all is still and quiet,
No trouble in the air,
For just a little longer,
Perhaps they'll linger there.

Perhaps they'll give some pleasure;
Perhaps they'll catch your eye,
And grant a brief diversion,
Like bubbles in the sky.

But there is nothing in them

To satisfy the heart.
As quick as they're inflated;
So quickly they depart.

There is a truer substance,
Not seen with carnal eyes;
But faith has eyes to see it,
And hands to grasp the prize.

Not like the bubbles, flashing,
To only disappear,
Its hope is long enduring;
Its joy, eternal cheer.

It is the hope of heaven,

Which God for us has made;
Not blown for just a moment;
Its joys will never fade.

--by Nita Brainard, May 2007

A couple of weeks ago, we used this poem for the topic of school time with the little boys. First, we started in 1 Peter 1. That was a good chapter to introduce the poem. We have an audio message by a missionary pilot, Paul Dye, which we have listened to zillions of times, so we occasionally referenced his talk. He speaks of the encouragement he drew from reading 1 Peter 1.

Here is an edited video of morning time with Noah, Sammy and Gideon (and Joshua!) reading and discussing the poem. Kinda long, 12 minutes or so. We include it because there are a few really neat responses from the boys, where you can see a bit of their comprehension. (Not that our kids are brains, but just to demonstrate how kids can begin to get abstract things, if that is what they are accustomed to. More on this later.) I had the big kids set up the camera on the tripod and the boys eventually just ignored it. We started off with 1 Peter 1, and then moved on to Nita's poem.

We are noticing how you can kind of train them to listen when you read, even without pictures. We are using the words corruptible and incorruptible. Despite the occasional yawn, they really enjoyed the poem!