Today I did something I bet no other grandma has ever done. I took 7 slightly used rolls of toilet paper, unrolled a couple of rounds, tore them off neatly, then Scotch taped along the seams.

Dementia? Art? Idiocy?

It harkens back to when Emerald was a one-year-old and we taught her to build tall towers out of fresh rolls of TP. They were soft, safe building blocks that tolerated the clumsy hands of a toddler perfectly.

Emerald loved the idea, and “tower” was one of her first distinguishable words. I figured it would be a brief phase in her development, but a year later (now a two-year-old), she’s still building. She’s capable of constructing towers taller than she is and understands that role-placement plays an important part in a high tower’s stability. And if there’s such a thing as being creative with toilet paper, Emerald is.

She lines them up on the edge of the bathtub, rolls them like wheels, and bunches them in symmetrical clusters. She erects walls with them and uses them as stools. I am one proud grandma.

Today while she was happily building TP-towers at my house, the bathroom suddenly became quiet, my signal to quickly check. When I rounded the corner I found a party-in-progress, complete with abundant confetti on the floor, in the tub, toilet, and stuck to the bath toys. Apparently one of the rolls had begun to unravel, and rather than Emerald’s usual, “Oh-oh, Mee Mee,” she decided to try a shredding project.

Tiny bits of TP were in her hair, on her hands, and hanging from her clothes (breakfast pancake syrup helped with that). She was quite proud of herself and said, “TP, Mee Mee!” as I stood in the door, not knowing quite what to do.

Which brings me to the Scotch tape. Rather than disappoint Emerald by putting TP supplies on a high shelf or in another room altogether, I decided to try securing the rolls so she can continue to build without the temptation to shred.

We can learn a great deal from watching young children. Their spontaneous creativity is something God established inside every human being as if to remind us of him, the Creator. Though we can’t create as he can, we can “be creative” in a mini-likeness of him. And isn’t that what he wants us to be, a reflection of him? After all, the word “Christian” actually means “little Christ.”

Now that I’ve thought it through, I can appreciate Emerald’s creativity in a new way as she uses what God gave her. Of course my TP-taping may have been for naught if she arrives tomorrow with shredding on her mind.

All of us…. “can see and reflect the glory of the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)