Jack's Pilgrim's progress

"Please come, Mimi!" It is really hard for an eight-year-old boy to be in a house full of adults who are content to simply talk. My grandson had been playing in the woods and wanted to show someone what he had created, but no one was willing to leave the comfort of air conditioning and go. Finally I said,"Yes.”

He took me by the hand into the woods. What he had been doing in the woods was to recreate the story he had been told this summer of "Pilgrim’s Progress.” He showed me what he dubbed "Vanity Fair.” It was the fire pit we have in the woods. "I decided this would be Vanity Fair because this is an easy place to just sit and do nothing." Next, he drew me further into the woods than I really wanted to go.

It wasn't an easy path. I was worried about the possibility of getting ticks or chiggers. "How much longer, Jack,” I asked, trying not to show how impatient I really felt. "Oh Mimi, it will be worth it when we get to the wicket gate and you see Heaven." I had to smile; he was so excited about showing me "Heaven". On and on we went. My mind was torn between my “Pilgrim’s Progress journey" and my great desire to get back to the air conditioner.

Suddenly, I looked up. Jack was standing by a fallen tree. He had a mimosas  branch in each hand waving it. He explained that the fallen tree was supposed to be the wicket gate. The branches were supposed to make me think of angles. "Look, Mini, look." I peered through an opening in the trees and got a glimpse of the lake with geese floating peacefully on it. "Doesn't it look like Heaven, Mimi?" My smiling grandson was waving "angle wings," sharing a hidden place he considered Heaven. Suddenly the comfort of the air conditioned house and adult conversation didn't seem so important.

Thinking back over my Pilgrim’s Progress journey with Jack, I was struck by the lessons my grandson taught me. At Sunday school we had talked about spiritual formation. We talked about how the Scriptures teach us that we have a part to play in our Spiritual growth. We are to be doers of the Word and not hearers only. We are to walk in the truth and to put to death the deeds of the flesh. I am often very content to stay in my comfort zone and not go on the Pilgrim’s Progress journey at all. I like comfort and choose it over progress. Once on the journey, sitting around the fire pit and simply talking about the journey is the next best thing.

I don't think I will ever forget the expression of joy on my grandson's face as he stood there waving the Mimosa branches and showing me a glimpse of Heaven. It was worth the journey.