Do Not Touch...

Last weekend, Zach and Rachel had a wedding out of town, so Graham and Emmett spent the night with Papa and Gammy! 

We had hoped to take the boys to the park that day, but the weather didn’t corporate, so we decided to head to Springfield instead!

Papa thought the boys might like a trip to Scheels to see the fish aquarium and the large display of animals!

The boys immediately ran to the large moose and bear as we entered the door!  I mean who doesn’t want their picture taken with these large animals!

And they headed straight to the aquarium as we headed inside the store!  Both boys circled the aquarium several times, making sure they saw all of the colorful fishes!

The boys even made it an adventure as we rode the escalator to the second floor! 

We wandered through the toy department, looking at cars, trucks, tractors, Lego’s, animals and all sorts of things that the boys found interesting and just had to pick up and examine!

We finally came to the large display of animals!

If you know our Graham…he could name almost all of the animals without reading the signs!  He loves animals!

We walked around the display a couple of times, making sure we didn’t miss seeing any of the animals!

Some of the animals were so close that you could reach out and touch them, so we reminded that boys what many of the signs said…

DO NOT TOUCH THE ANIMALS!

We walked through a few other departments before heading to the shoe department…Gammy was in search of a new pair of running shoes!

However, as we were heading to the shoe department, we come upon a large bear that you could stand next to for a photo!

Graham and Emmett hopped up to stand next to the bear!  We reminded them that you couldn’t touch the bear!

Just as Gammy clicked the last shot, Graham reached out with one finger and touched the bear’s paw!

Papa bent down and reminded Graham that the sign had said “Do Not Touch” and we needed to follow the rules and obey!

Graham immediately said he was sorry and we continued on our way!

The rest of the weekend was filled with lunch at Steak-N-Shake, including chocolate milk shakes…making muffins…playing and having a movie night with popcorn!

As I was helping Graham get dressed for church the next morning, I told him that Emmett and he had been really good that weekend and I was so proud of them!

Graham reminded me that he had touched the bear yesterday and before I could respond he said, “Gammy, I just wanted to see how the fur felt…I couldn’t help it”!

I smiled as this sweet little boy shared his heart with me!

If I am completely honest, I felt just like Graham!  As I looked at several of the animals on display, I was tempted to reach out and touch some of the animals too!

I wanted to see how soft their fur was…and wondered what the large claws on some of the animals felt like!

It was tempting!!  And I could have easily given into that temptation as well!

I was reminded of that at church that morning!

During the sermon, our pastor encouraged us to write down things in our life that we regretted!

As I looked at the blank piece of paper, I could have easily written down several things…things I wish I had not done…things I wish I had done differently…temptations that I had given into!

Our pastor didn’t ask us to write those items down so we would dwell upon them, but so we could place them in a shredder, trusting and believing that God has removed and forgiven all of our transgressions!

Our pastor reminded us of what God’s word says…”For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us…Psalms 103:11-12.

I am not sure we can truly imagine how much God loves us…as high as the heavens are above the earth!

And as far as the east is from the west…God removed our transgressions! 

And when I think of a little boy reaching out to touch the fur on a big bear…I am reminded of a Heavenly Father that loves that little boy more than I can imagine! 

Dear Heavenly Father…thank you for loving us so deeply…and for removing all of our transgressions!