About What Do You Wonder?

Papa's working late.  "Let's go to Friendly's for dinner, boys!"  A special treat.  Just me and three little guys.  We sat, waiting for our dinner, me reading aloud, The Wheel on the School by Meindert Dejong.  Six little ears, attentively listening to each word.  Six hands busily coloring their placemats.

Dinner arrived just as we'd finished the first chapter.  (Mac n' cheese with broccoli for Eli and Noah.  Their favorite.)  A chapter about Dutch school children wondering why storks don't live in their village but nest in all the surrounding villages, caught our interest far more than any of us expected.  We set the book aside, Noah offered a sweet prayer of thanks with chubby, dimpled fingers folded.  "Dear Dog... Tank you for our food, our fam-ee, and our friends.  Amen." and we began to eat.

"About what do you wonder?"  I asked them.  We giggled over silly things.  Then the oldest, Isaiah, spoke up, having drowned his fries in ketchup.  "What God looks like", was his simple contribution.  A simple statement from one often lost deep in thought.  A simple statement to steer the conversation in such a direction as to facilitate fellowship between my sweet sons and I.

Isaiah continued to steer the conversation~ a conversation that began with the reading of a simple story book~ at the dinner table that night.  A glimpse of the man he will one day be.  A picture of the young man he has become.  As I look at him beside me, I see his plate smothered in ketchup, his fingers red.  He looks up at me, smiles his toothy grin and asks to visit the playground on the way home. ...  I'm reminded that in many ways, he still is just a boy.  I'm reminded to be sure he has plenty of free time.  Time to simply wonder... and wander.