I may have already posted this morning (“I’m not just alive… I am”) but it’s been a while since I wrote anything about our amazing grandchildren and the youngest of the four, Geoffrey, turned five today – November 15.

Five, in my judgement, is a hugely important mile marker, especially when the world around you is not exactly all that easy to navigate much of the time.

Five is old enough now for, “I am getting to be a big boy and I can make decisions.”

That’s right, Geoffrey, you are attending preschool, and you are learning so much, and you are figuring out what it means to grow and to thrive and to be flexible when the world isn’t behaving quite how we want it to, and neither are many of the people in it.

The really important shift, now that you are five years old, is that life is no longer all about, “What the world can do for ME….” Now it is also about, “What I can do for my family, for my friends and for this world.”

I want you to understand, Geoffrey, and I want you to experience the great joy that comes when life is something to share, when you are kind and generous with your friends, and when you seek the happiness of the people around you.

Once you figure that out, Geoffrey, then anything and everything is both possible and beautiful. Not only that, but you will find that you feel wonderful too.

You have, by the way, the best smile and the most infectious laugh. So most of all I pray that you smile so very much this year and that you bring such contagious joy that those around you can’t help but smile too.

With more love than you can imagine and lots of extra prayers – your Grandaddy Derek

The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

I Samuel 3:10