Easter has come and has gone.  The beautiful dresses have been put away for another occasion and the Sunday shoes have been placed back on the shelf.  The scales if we are brave enough to get on them tell the tale of that extra piece of cake or the 10th peanut butter cup.  Hopefully in the midst of the glitter, we all had the time to reflect on the theme of Easter, the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

What happened though yesterday with my grandsons caught my eye–really my ear.

 Brayden (8) and Keaton (5) were in the backyard playing hockey and running around like kids are supposed to do.  It was quiet inside the house as the adults were busy in conversation when all of a sudden a blood curdling scream came out of the little one.  It got everybody’s attention and in he came.  It was a cry that you know is serious as he couldn’t catch his breath to cry some more.  He couldn’t tell us what was going on as he was in severe pain.  There didn’t seem to be any obvious blood coming from his extremities (thank God for that because I faint at the sight of blood).

What had happened is that Keaton was on top of a scooter train he was supposed to be sitting on, but was standing on this train.  He was in the process of skateboarding on this train when it hit a concrete crack and stopped abruptly.  The action of the train caused another reaction and Keaton took a head dive right onto the concrete–a head plant bottom line.

What ensued was the interesting point for me.  Brayden first wanted an apple because that is Keaton’s fruit.  He then came close to Keaton who was still crying and tried to make him laugh.  He was telling him a story of a friend who did a face plant and acted it out which began to cause Keaton to smile.  He continued this behavior until Keaton stopped crying entirely and began to laugh at his brother.  Brayden was so concerned about his brother and wanted to show him love by comforting a brother who was in much pain.

It reminds me of Paul when he talked about comforting others.  “Praise be to the God . . . of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive From.  For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.” II Corinthians 1:3-5 When we are hurting, God wants to come along and comfort us, so that we can come along and comfort others with the comfort we received from Christ.

Brayden was a great example to me of a brother’s love in coming alongside his brother and comforting Keaten in time of need.  On this journey, there will be plenty of times we encounter those who are hurting.  We have the opportunity like Brayden did to comfort those in need.