Scott and I went to Toy Story 3 this weekend and loved it!

Even today… three days after viewing I find myself remembering movie moments that tug at my heart… moments that reminded me of days gone by when my little boys wouldn’t leave the house without a cape (bath towel) tied around their necks and a Batman, T-Rex or Power Ranger grasped tightly in one hand while the other hand held mine.

“ It seems like that was yesterday” I found myself telling my nephew and niece after the movie (they happened to be at that same viewing) as I nodded at their little ones holding on to their favorite toys. Where are your boys?” they asked. “Not with us” I responded longingly “Not with us”... and I missed them.

It’s not like they were far away… one with friends and the other at work just a few miles away… but I missed them none the less.

I missed the “little boys” and their capes and their toys and most of all I missed the gift of a time when there wasn’t anywhere else they would rather be... except with me.

I was reminded of a passage by Khalil Gibran in Chapter 3 of The Prophet that I share below as tonights food for thought & inspiration...

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said,

- Speak To Us of Children!

And he said:

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, and though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You give them your love but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness:

For even as He loves the arrow that flies so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

Hmmm... From Toy Story 3 to The Prophet Chapter 3... only on the Butcher Block Exchange :) !