Tuesday With Teri

           Tuesday with Teri, the event from which this blog received its name, has begun.  Each Tuesday during the summer, we welcome moms and kids to our pool from 10am to 2pm.  It is always such a blessing.   I absolutely love being with these moms and their precious little ones.  My own kids are young adults now and they no longer squeal with delight as they jump in the pool, giggle at my antics or enjoy a good neon colored pop ice the way these kids do.  It is refreshing to be with them.

          The mermaid attacks were to be expected.  Two of my young pool guests declared sometime last year that they were “mermaid detectives”.  This designation required them to swim in a small formation and hunt down unsuspecting adults for splash attacks.  This year my little mermaids embarked on a new method of attack.

          The sweet innocent voices would call out, “its okay Miss Teri, we won’t splash you….you should just come stand right over here.”  They would encourage me to position myself a few feet from the side of the pool, then, with a giggle and a squeal, they launched out over the water and landed two perfect cannon ball splashes on either side of me.  We played this scene out over and over …each time I would pretend to be unaware of the impending attack, each time they would promise not to splash me. 

          My favorite pitch went like this, “We love you Miss Teri, we would NEVER splash you…go ahead and just lay back and float right there…”  Of course I would do just as told….and SPLASH, they were laughing so hard they were sputtering pool water trying to swim back to the poolside for the next attack.   It was not long before a few of the young ones noticed the fun they were having and wanted to join in the jumping. 

         It never got old.  It was funny every single time.  I am pretty sure that if their moms did not require them to get out of the pool so they could go home, I would be standing in the middle of my pool surrounded by loud, laughing, splashing mermaids until midnight! 

These young ones taught me some very good lessons today:

• *When you laugh, laugh loud and with abandon…just make sure you close you mouth if you are underwater.   I never realize how little I actually laugh aloud until I do, then it sometimes seems like a foreign language…I want to laugh more and louder in life.

• When you jump, jump as far and high as you can.  Little jumps might be easier, but you miss the fun of the “splash.”  Big jumps impact others!  I am not a big risk taker…I like my life journey to come in baby steps, but sometimes God calls us to JUMP in with all of our being.   Maybe I should be making a bigger splash for Him and impacting others.

• When you find something that brings you joy, embrace it, do it, share it….until it is time to go home.    Truly, the joy of the Lord is my strength, and yet at times I allow the world to steal my joy.   God’s blessings are abundant.  I want to be constantly mindful and quick to share the JOY of  His truth, grace, and love…until He calls me home.

 Restore to me the joy of my salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit.  Then I will teach transgressors Thy ways, and sinners will be converted to Thee. ( Psalm 51:12-13)