Little Green Army Men

 

Over the years, my wife has collected little green army men from yard sales.  She would find a Zip-lock bag here and there and buy them for our grandsons to play with.  She kept them in a little suitcase in our basement.  The grandsons would enjoy scattering them over the furniture, ironing board, washer and dryer in various strategic army emplacements.  But many a time, I have stepped on an AWOL army man while going barefooted to retrieve a basket of laundry.  I would remind the grandsons to “put away the army men,” but to no avail.  It became my job to watch out for those little army men.  Last week, the youngest of my three grandsons was over at our house.  He wandered downstairs and enjoyed playing with the army men one more time.  When I went downstairs checking on him, twelve-year-old Greyson had the army men all organized.  One group were German soldiers, and another group were Japanese soldiers.  Another group were American GI’s while another group were cowboys and Indians.  After Greyson left, I went downstairs to clean up after him.  But he had put away all of the army men without being told!  Now it was my turn to be upset, because my little grandson was all grown up.  He didn’t need me to remind him to “put away the army men.”  He did it without being told.  Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”  A bittersweet moment when a child becomes responsible.