Are You Glad I'm Here?

by Orlo Freshly

My wife and I have been blessed with four children and seven grandchildren--one granddaughter and six grandsons. I have learned many lessons from them all.

On a beautiful, sunny Saturday before Easter, one of our sons-in-law brought his tractor and brushhog to wreak some real havoc on a terrible entanglement of multiflora roses, vines and brush in our woods, I was trying to work ahead of him marking some small trees which I wanted saved.

At the top of the hill I saw our daughter's van. She dropped off their son who was almost seven. The others were going to their other grandparents' house for an egg hunt. This little guy wanted to be with his dad and me. "I'm a Worker Boy," he said.

Down over the hill he came as his mother watched from above. Dressed in his work boots, blue jeans and gloves, he was ready. As the roar of his dad's tractor and machinery could be heard behind me, he asked softly, "Are you glad I'm here, Grandpa?"

We all want to know the answer to that question! Whether we are walking down the street in an unfamiliar city, going to class, meeting a friend, going home or even to church (maybe especially at church, for we expect so much there), we want to know, "Are you glad I'm here?"

Even when we say we don't care what others think, we really do want others to let us know, by saying or acting it out, "I'm glad you're here."

In this Easter season, can we live the message of Jesus and let others know "I'm glad you're here!"

Photo by Margie Nea.