Dear Maisy,
I’m writing this letter to five-year-old you, because I want to tell you about something that makes me super-duper happy. It’s about the way you treat your brothers. It’s especially about how you treat your little brother, Nash, who is three. You are so kind, and always looking out for him. Like—if you get a treat or a snack, you always make sure Nash gets one, too. Or if you get to do something fun, you want to make sure Nash is included. Last week I asked if you wanted to go on a special girl date with me to a Little House on the Prairie musical. Little House is our special thing, since last summer on your birthday I gave you my very own Mary doll from when I was a little girl, along with some Little House books and paper-dolls. So when I saw there was going to be a Little House musical, right away I sent a text to your mom to see if it was okay for me to buy two tickets for us. Of course, she said yes. And then, last weekend, I got to tell you about it. I asked, “Would you like to go to this play with me?” and right away you were super excited. But then you surprised me with what you asked next. “Will Nash get to do something special with Papi?” And then, instead of thinking about YOUR plans with Nana, you just wanted to figure out something special for the guys to do, too. Like maybe a basketball game or something. You had lots of good ideas.
Anyway, this is why I’m writing this letter to you. Because if I had one wish right now it would be that you stay this way forever. Not that you stay five forever. Because of course you need to get older and bigger and everything. But I wonder if your heart could somehow stay five?
And then I got to thinking about how we sure could use a few more five-year-old hearts around here. I mean, what if all of us grownups were always thinking about sharing our treats with others, and making sure no one got left out? That would be pretty good, wouldn’t it?
So here’s the thing. The hard part about keeping a five-year-old heart forever, is that pretty soon life is going to start teaching you to make your heart a little bit harder. My own heart hurts just thinking about it. Here’s how it happens. The day is going to come (maybe it has already) when you are going to be left out. This seems to happen especially with girls. And the first couple of times it happens, especially when you’re five, it seems strange and weird. Like, “What just happened?” You feel super confused trying to figure it out, because this is so different from how the world is supposed to work. And maybe later you tell your mom and she seems confused, too. And also a little bit sad.
And then later your mom tells Nana, and Nana is sad, too.
Because maybe this actually did happen. And maybe Nana’s heart hurt enough that later she was talking to God about it. She told God, “I don’t like this, and maybe you could just keep this from happening ever again. Maybe you could make sure Maisy is never left out, and that she’s always included.” Which is when God had something important He needed to tell Nana.
He said—“The people who are always included are the people who leave others out.” And then He asked me, “Is this what you want for Maisy?”
Of course I said, “No.”
No. I don’t want Maisy to leave others out. I want Maisy to be be different. I want Maisy to always and forever have a looking-out-for-others-heart. I want Maisy to always see the world as a place where everybody gets treats and is treated with kindness.
And what this really means is I always want Maisy to have a Jesus-heart.
Because Jesus always looked out for others. Jesus was always an inviter. Jesus always paid attention to the people around him, and if someone didn’t have a treat, He made sure there was extra. Of course this was kind of his super-power.
Speaking of super-powers. Your brother, Nash is really into superheroes, isn’t he? Superman and Ironman—and especially Spidey. He’s kind of obsessed with Spidey.
So here’s the deal. I don’t really know much about Spidey, but I do know quite a lot about Jesus. And I was thinking, maybe you and Nash can be Jesus’ superheroes. (Bo, too.) I’m serious. Your superpower will be your heart. A heart that stays five forever, that never gets hard, that always has room for others. A heart full of JESUS.
Yep. That’s the prayer I’ll be praying from now on.
That's it for now.
I love you.
Nana.
P.S. Can I be a superhero with you?