In my humble opinion, one of the greatest things a parent can do is ENJOY attending and supporting his/her children’s activities. I capitalized “ENJOY” because in today’s hurried and harried world, many parents, at best, get to the ball game or soccer practice, but get caught up reading, book work, gossip with another parent, and don’t really get to give the event their undivided attention and ENJOY it. Cell phones and beepers don’t help matters much, either.

One of the commitments I made to myself as a father was to participate in our kids’ different activities any way I could. I made it a point to relax and ENJOY what was going on by focusing on it and giving it, to the best of my ability, my undivided attention.

Well, grandfatherhood has merely given me yet another opportunity to gratify and satisfy my desire to keep on participating! Pat and I used to drive to St. Pete to listen to granddaughter Jessica sing in a Christmas program at her school. We now go to the Jr. Symphony concerts, ball games, and recitals of all kinds. One of the neatest parts of performing is having an audience, especially an audience of loving, caring parents and grandparents.

Well, I’ve just got to tell you about a baseball game I attended last Saturday. Our two grandsons, Ben and Steve, play for the Black Marlins. They were playing the Redfish against whom they’re 2-1. These two teams are part of a Christian League. They play their games on the grounds of the Sarasota Christian School.

As the game progressed, there was really fine play on both sides. The score rocked back and forth. About half way through the game, someone tugged at my arm and told me to look up. There, atop the 300 foot radio tower at WKZM Christian Radio, was an incredibly beautiful bald eagle! She sat there, framed by a beautiful blue sky, for about an hour.

I hardly ever miss National Geographic specials. The Discovery Channel is one of my favorites. I especially like to watch the interaction between parents and youngsters in the wild animal kingdom. In the movie, “Gorillas In The Mist”, there seemed to be genuine tenderness between the mothers and their children.

Well, I actually believe I saw an example of this last Saturday. After spending about an hour watching all the kids and some of their parents having fun together, the eagle took off. She soared and swooped and soon was out of sight. I figured she had gone back to her nest or out looking for some little unsuspecting rodent to invite to lunch.

Pretty soon, there were two eagles in the sky. One was Mama Eagle. The other was obviously Junior, her immature eaglet. They put on quite a show together. There they flew – in tandem. Formation flying at its best. Now I realize that I can probably only read so much into this incident. You may not “buy” my conclusion, but let me take a crack at concluding anyway. See, I believe that Mama Eagle could only stand so much of our enjoying life with our kids and grandkids. The longer she observed us, the more she yearned to go fetch one of her “kids” and put on a show for us. Okay, maybe that’s stretching it just a tad, but that’s how it seemed to me!

In Deuteronomy 32:8-11, we read, “When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He divided all mankind, He set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. For the Lord’s portion is His people, Jacob his allotted inheritance. In a desert land He found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; He guarded him as the apple of His eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions.”

I’m frequently given an opportunity to help fellow writers by editing, proofreading, polishing, etc. This is usually a fun experience. Well, the gal to whom I ALWAYS give my stuff, is my wife and best friend, Pat.

When she finished reading this piece, she said that she really enjoyed it. I said, “Yeah, but it doesn’t have any application, ending, or Life Lessons.” We laughed and then agreed that my very astute readers, judging by the terrific E-mail I get, would do a super job making their own applications! So, you’re on your own this week. I would appreciate an E-mail from you sharing the conclusions to which you come! Thanks!

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