May
20
2019
The Project
Posted in Discipleship 2 Comments
My youngest son was in middle school when he made the request.
He wanted to get a new basketball pole for the driveway.
We had a basketball pole but a sturdier one was in order.
There were many boys in the neighborhood during those years.
Our house was the house for board games and basketball.
A house across the street was the house for football.
It was a reasonable request.
My husband had a proposition.
We can put a new basketball pole on the driveway, but you have to help me do the job.
We have to dig a hole and we have to make cement for a footer, he explained.
Our son was all in and very excited about the new basketball pole installation.
A Goal-rilla basketball pole was ordered and delivered.
The weekend after it arrived, father and son went to work.
Boys and Digging just seem to go together.
Getting dirty was expected.
One sight during the installation is forever ingrained in my memory.
My husband opened the door from the garage to the house and called to me.
Come and check this out, he said.
I remember wondering what I could possibly add to this project.
I could not imagine what he wanted me to check out.
When I got outside, all I could see was my son from the torso up, sticking out of the hole.
The bottom part of his body was in the hole they dug for the basketball pole.
Apparently, his height was a good indicator of the hole depth.
He was loving very minute of this project.
The basketball pole is still on our driveway.
It has gotten a lot of use through the years.
Every time I look at it, I remember my husband and son working on it together.
My mind went back to a school assignment.
My son had to write an essay about a favorite memory.
He did not write about a vacation, or playing sports, or getting his first drum set.
He wrote about installing a basketball pole with his dad.
That memory is forever etched in his mind and heart; it was a special time for both of them.
I thought of all of this when our son asked his dad for help with a project.
Our son is a new daddy himself.
He wanted to install a backsplash in his kitchen.
He and his wife wanted to put in subway tiles to go above their granite countertops.
My husband loves projects.
They planned the weekend, thinking that the baby would arrive before the due date.
Our precious granddaughter was one week and one day overdue.
The planned project would be still be done when she was a little over a week old.
Our son and daughter-in-love chose the tiles they wanted.
It was a full two days of work.
My husband sent pictures along the way to show the progress.
My husband cut the tiles in their back yard; our son installed them.
Father and son were working alongside each other again.
They have done quite a few things together, since our son and his wife bought a house.
However, this was a major project.
This one reminded me of the project they did all those years ago.
Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding. I give you sound learning, so do not forsake my teaching. For I too was a son to my father, still tender, and cherished by my mother. Then he taught me, and he said to me, “Take hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands, and you will live.” (Proverbs 4:1-4)
My son is learning how to do many things because he is watching his father.
He has a vested interest in learning about these things, since he has a house of his own.
I am certain that this project will be a special one for our son.
I am certain, memories of his dad will include the basketball pole and the backsplash.
Our children do not need elaborate things in order to make memories.
Simply being together and working alongside one or both of their parents is enough.
It is time spent, not money spent that our children treasure no matter their age.
It is the gift of yourself, not gifts that are bought that will stand the test of time.
I cannot wait to see the end result of their weekend project.
I cannot wait to hug my son and tell him in person how proud I am of him.
I saw the picture my husband took of our son with the finished backsplash behind him.
There was such a look of pride on his face for a job well done.
My mother’s heart is full.
It’s not the gifts or packages we opened in our lives that we remember the most – it is just being together with loved ones – they are my fondest memories.
Amen, Ellen!
Children’s best memories are really of the simplest things.
Blessings!
Gina