I’ve told you guys quite a bit about my nephew Tyler. Here’s a story about his younger brother, Tucker.
Tucker and Tyler were really into the “Lord of the Rings” movies, so we played swords a lot during those days. (I couldn’t find a pic with swords – only this one of Tucker with the hulk hands – we used to do battle with them too.) One day while playing with Tucker, we slung the swords at each other like crazy and as the swinging ceased for a brief moment, he decided that he had beat me. There was no real reason – he just said that he had beat me. I was still holding my sword though. He pushed his sword up to my chest and demanded for me to drop my sword. I acted as if I were going to and then started swinging again. He wouldn’t fight back though. Why? According to him, he had already beat me. So I let him put his sword in my chest again and we began this dialog.
I said, “Why should I drop my sword? I’ll never let you kill me. Never surrender!!”
He said, “You will.”
“Why would I do that?”
“‘Cause I said so.” (let me remind you that he was about 3 feet tall.)
“I won’t.”
“You will.”
“No, I won’t surrender. . . . . .Ever.”
“Yes, you will,” he said.
One more time I asked, “Why would I do that?” Then I dropped my sword.
He dropped his too and ran to me with arms wide open saying, “This is why.”
He hugged me as hard as he could and I held him too.
I actually held him and said in my most evil voice, “Now, I’ve got you!” And we played the “You can’t escape game.”
Anyway, later that night when I laid down for bed I wondered if there had been times when I was trying to fight or do battle with the world, and God just wanted a hug? I wondered what would have happened if I had never dropped my sword with Tucker? What about other people that I think I need to do battle with? Is there a way I could hug them instead of fighting? Would I allow myself to drop my sword with them?