Big Bill sat by the window.
He looked out into the backyard of his house. There was Little Billy hard at play.
Little Billy was like a perpetual motion machine. Seemed he hardly even
stopped to catch his breath.
It was a bright sunny day. The type of day Little Billy, and all little boys, seemed
to love.
In the yard, Little Billy was thinking it was just so great to feel the bright, warm
sun on his face again. It was not a particularly bad winter, actually a little
warmer than most, but it did feel great to be able to go back out and play again.
Billy's mother was pretty protective. During the winter, going out to play almost
was more trouble than it was worth. You were layered. Many layers.
Often times the only things you could see on little Billy were his big brown eyes,
looking out from between where the scarf ended and the knit cap had began.
All of those clothes now had been moved to the upstairs hall closet. In goes the winter
clothes, out come the summer ones.
This was not Little Billy's first warm weather play day, but it certainly was his best.
"Now that Easter has passed, summer is just around the corner," Little
Billy thought. "He looked at how green the grass was now. Tulips were
blooming in his mother's flower border. Ants again were crawling along the concrete
patio. Summer was just around the corner Billy thought.
Little Billy had cone into the yard with a sense of purpose. After enjoying the
beauty of the day, he now was prepared to get down to business.
In his hand was the black magic marker his mother told him he could use, as long as he
remembered to "put the top back on so it won't dry up." In his
other hand, he carried two balloons that he got at his cousin Gil's birthday party.
Gil had just turned 16 and he went to his party right after church on Easter
Sunday.
Billy loved balloons, especially the ones filled with on-the-ceiling gas.
Big Bill kept telling Billy it was helium, but Billy stuck to his own name, on-the-ceiling
gas, since those balloons, when released in the house, would bob merrily on the ceiling
for days.
But Billy realized if you accidentally let go of the string outside, they floated up in
the sky. They got smaller and smaller until you could not see them any more.
Little Billy tied one balloon to the arm of the lawn chair he was sitting in, while he
proceeded to apply the magic marker to the other.
Big Bill continued his observation from the window. He loved just to watch his son
at play. And he was not just being protective, he loved to watch Billy's mind
at work. Little Billy could cut to the heart of a matter faster than any adult he
knew, thought big Bill.
But today, big Bill could not quite figure out what Little Billy was up to. He saw
Little Billy writing on the balloons. But he was just a little too far away to see
what he was writing. Big Bill went and found his binoculars. He focused them
on Little Billy and his project. Suddenly L:ittle Billy's childish scrawl became
clear to him. The words were few, the message easy to read. "I Love
You," was printed in big letters on each balloon.
"Hmmm," thought big Bill. "What is little Billy up to this time?"
Big Bill watched little Billy complete his penmanship. Then came the unexpected,
little Billy released both balloons. First one and then the other.
They both drifted off into the warm air. Dancing in the sky until
finally they passed out of sight.
Big Bill watched his son follow their flight until they disappeared from his vision.
"He loves balloons. Normally they float around on the ceiling of his room until
the helium leaks out and they come settling back to the floor, why did he take two
balloons, things he loves to play with so much and let them go outside," big Bill
pondered. "And why did he put "I Love You" on the balloons
first/"
Big Billy opened the door to the backyard. At the first sight of his father Little
Billy can running to him at break-neck speed. He left his feet when he was still two
or three feet from big Bill and with his best Superman imitation, he flew right into his
father's arms, giving big Bill a hug around his neck that almost cut off his breathing..
Once he could catch his breath, the smile on big Bill's face was a mile long. It was
fueled by his son's unabashed display of love.
"Billy, why did you let your balloons go?" big Bill asked.
"Well Daddy, at church the preacher always says "When the praises go up, the
blessings come down."
"I wrote "I love you" on the balloons and then I sent them up to God.
Then I figured I would wait for my blessings to come down," Little Billy
said with a earnest look on his face. "Those were my praise balloons you
watched going up!"
Big Bill did not want to see his son hurt, did not want to see his boundless faith shaken.
"Billy, what the preacher says is very true. When you praise God,
He will bless you. But the preacher means when you pray and when you tell
other people how good God is and when you thank Him and praise Him for what He has done
for you. I'm not sure the preacher was thinking about balloons carrying the
praises," big Bill explained.
For just a minute, a sad look passed over little Billy's face, but in the blink of an eye,
his normal glow had returned.
"But Daddy, the blessings indeed did come down. I no sooner had released the
balloons than you came outside and that is what I was hoping for the whole time.
That you would have some time to play with me on this great warm day,"
little Billy explained.
Big Bill felt a lump rise into his throat. He tried to hold back the tears of joy,
but even with his best effort, two came tumbling down his face, one from the right eye and
one from the left.
"Are you sad Daddy," little Billy asked.
"Not sad at all Billy, just so happy about another little blessing that God has given
me," as he picked Little Billy up and headed off to play.
We some times forget that God answers prayers and responds to praises. Little Billy
realized God responds to all forms of praise, conventional and unconventional, for it is
not the act that God responds to, rather the heart that initiates the act.
If you praise God with the lips but do not love him in your heart, it is nothing but empty
words floating up and nothing will result of it.
Although Little Billy sent his praises aloft by balloon, it was his heart, full of the
love of the Lord, that really made the praises soar upward and his praises were rewarded
by blessings.
Praise God today. Send your praises upward. Not empty hollow praises, but
praises from the heart thanking the mighty God you serve for all He has done for you.
Acknowledge God as the only true God. Send an email to someone and tell them
God is Good. And as the praises go up, the blessings surely will stream down.
Like little Billy, take a moment today to say "I Love You" Lord. It does
not matter how you send your praises, by balloon express or over the internet, if they are
from the heart, God will hear them.
