Benjamin has a routine of taking medications that help him keep calm. I am grateful. They are tucked into a pill box, with vitamins to round out the regime. Two nights ago Ben was getting ready for bed and swallowed the gummy vitamins in the pm slot but got distracted before he took the medicinal ones. The next day, as he was about to gulp the morning set, he noticed the ones from the night before. Hurriedly, he ate those too, and for penance gulped the afternoon one as well. An entire day's prescriptions at once. He was embarrassed. John tried to reassure him, and quietly told me that Ben would probably thunk to sleep soon. Which he did. After a three hour nap, I wondered what would unfold at bedtime. Would he stay up late, and find it hard to get up for church? 

 

The next morning, I left to help an elderly woman with her breakfast, and John was getting ready to preach. Ben awoke, perhaps with a start, and thought we had forgotten him. He walked to church. 

 

I only discovered this when the front door slammed, and he walked in. 

 

"I was early," Ben explained. Some kind person had told him to go home and return in an hour. Which we did. 

 

We came into the main hall, where snacks were laid out for the service that was just ending. Ben snagged two cookies, and we went around the building to the entrance for our informal service, the one I was playing music for. He saw a little girl who looked like she enjoyed cookies and he gave them to her. Because that is what he loves to do. 

 

The service was remarkable to me, in these tumultuous days of uncertainty. The minister talked about kings in the bible who love to serve, like Jesus, contrasted with those who are selfish, like Herod. Ben turned to me with a big grin. He knows about Herod. 

 

"He is the worst! He is in the tableaux!" 

 

The thrust of the message was about serving others, which for Ben involves treats. Children were given paper crowns, with a message about true leadership. 

 

"Servant"

 

Kids were given ballots for voting for a good king, which Benjamin was pleased to fill out. Plus, as chance would have it, he gets to vote again next week.