Magical Firsts for Miss Iris

While we were at Disney, we all got to enjoy some pretty amazing, magical firstswith little Miss Iris, who is (daughter) Kathy and Carl’s 11-month-old daughter.Iris really enjoyed her maiden voyage on a boat…all the way across Bay Lake to  the Contemporary Resort. Although we stay at the Fort Wilderness Campground, we always take some time to go “resort hopping,” just to stroll around all thebeautiful, park-like resort grounds, using the monorail system to skip from one gorgeous resort to the next. Iris definitely enjoyed her first monorail ride,  but she relished her first lunch at the Polynesian even more, especially since she found some new friends to share her lunch with her: It was her very first chance  to Make Way for Ducklings…at least real, live ducklings! But, poor Miss Iris….by the time the rest of us were ready for an elegant dessert of cake and coffee,Iris had fallen soundly asleep in her Baby Bjorn (definitely not a first for that),and so we had to eat without her. (But, I assure you, we would have shared. ) Another awesome first for Iris was our trip to the Wilderness Lodge. Carl captured his first closeup of North America’s largest (Piliated) woodpecker. Back at Fort Wilderness we all shared a first: watching a bald eagle fishing right in front of us. Iris wasn’t too impressed; she was much more interested in  playing with sand, but it was the first time she didn’t like having sandy hands! There seem to be no end to exciting “first times” at Fort Wilderness, like checking out the great big horses and the pretty, little snowy-white ponies.There are first pine cones to feel,hummingbirds to watch (and photograph…a first good opportunity for me!),and a first try at pulling apart Spanish Moss!There was a great time first-splashing at the kiddie pool, and then it started to rain for real, so there was a first time marveling at raindrops falling from the sky.And last, but not least, was little Miss Iris’s first trip to the Magic Kingdom. There was the long, somewhat intimidating ride on a big boat to get there. There was an exciting first ride on Dumbo. Can elephants really fly?!There was a fascinating first ride on a train. How’s it work?There were stories to live out, music to make, and all the time…learning, learning, learning! You could just see  the little wheels in her brain spinning round and round and round!

I’m convinced the Lord wants us to be like Iris. He’s taking us on an amazing trip through life, and I think he wants us to take in all the magical firsts of life just like a child: staying as close as possible to our Source of Comfort, being willing to go along (most of the time), watching, learning, imitating, experimenting, being filled with awe, and being willing to experience everything He provides for us. Surely God loves us even much more dearly that we love our little ones, so shouldn’t we trust Him to take us through all the magical firsts of this life… through time and into eternity?

“And he [Jesus] said, ‘Truly I say to you, except you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven’” (Matthew 18:3).