Child-like

Well, it has thus far been an interesting week. My son got his first bee sting at school Tuesday. He got stung on his finger and it started swelling right away. Tonight I took him into urgent care to be seen because even though he has been on Benadryl and had an ice pack and had motrin....the swelling got worse. His fingers started turning purple. So he was loaded up with steroids and sent home. My six year old is a bottomless pit already, so it should be interesting to see how the steroids affect his appetite.

Speaking of my son, I wanted to share something with you. On Sunday we had the joy of watching a new sister baptized. I held Gabe in my lap and thou he has seen it before he asked what was going on. I told him she was getting her sins washed away. He watched with great interest. After she arose from the water we all rejoiced and sang a song. The baptistery in our congregation has windows on either side so sunshine reflects on the waters throughout the day. Gabe pointed vaguely in a direction and asked, "what's that"? After trial and error and slight frustration on his part I figured out what he was pointing at. He was pointing to the reflection on the wall of the water that was still rippling slightly. I explained what it was, light, reflections, all that. He looked at it hard for a second and said, "but what are those wiggly things"? He was referring to the lines the ripples made in the reflection. I told him it was ripples in the water. He said he thought it was her sins in the water. Oh, the joy of children! I smiled and kissed him. I hugged him. I told him he could be right.

Is it any wonder we are to be as children? The pure matter-of-fact faith. The innocence. We adults complicate things so much at times. Often we need to take a step back, and simplify. I learn so much from my children. I think of how we are Gods children and how He must feel at times about the way His children act. I am by no means a perfect parent. But God is. So, we all have the perfect parent in a sense. When my kids sulk, when they don't get what the expect or when I try to convince them that XYZ will hurt them and they argue with me, I think of how I act towards God. Do I rebel and feel the need to prove Him wrong? Do I think I know best? Do I trust Him to care for me? Do I get sulky when I don't get what I expect? Do I try to reason with him or argue His ways? It all makes you go "hmmm", doesn't it?

This week I hope you take a step back and simplify. Reflect on your attitude, and make positive changes. Above all love God, and love your family.

It's God's, mama.

It's Sunday. The Lords day. In this family it means nothing is planned (except on rare occasion) other than worship, bible class, and family time.

This quarter I am teaching a class for 3-5th grades. Sometimes they spring questions on me that catch me off guard....and I love it. It shows me that they are thinking. Today they asked me "who made God?"

I tried explaining that EVERYTHING on this earth and in our universe has a beginning and an end.. I told them that this is why it is so difficult for people to comprehend that God just always has been. I went on to say that most adults have a hard time understanding. I think it's good for kids to know that adults don't always understand things either.

Well, class continued and we had a good time looking things up in the bible to answer questions. I try to teach the kids that they need to be sure that what they learn is actually the truth, and the way they check is by looking it up in the bible.

After class dismissed it was time to go to the auditorium for worship. So, we seated ourselves and got situated. Rachel went up to sit with the youth group, while Gabe stayed back with my husband and I.

Gabe is your typical 6 yr old little boy. He can't sit still or pay attention for long. He likes anything that has to do with transportation, or construction. Once in a while he does something or says something that lets me know he is taking it all in.

Today he was in question mode. Why? How? Who? So many questions from him!! I kept having to remind him to whisper as worship started.

We sang a few songs, had a devotional before communion, then communion. After communion we have offering, where we can give a portion of what we have been blessed with.

I give each of my kids a small allowance each week. I give it to them with the understanding that part of it goes into the offering and part of it gets saved. The rest they can spend.

Well it was time for offering and I pulled Gabe's dollar out of my wallet. I handed it to him and said ,"YOUR money is in my purse."

Without hesitation he said,"It's God's, mama. It's all really His, he just let's us use it. Isn't that nice?"

Wow. I was speechless. It's humbling to get set straight by your 6yr old.

I had to sit and process the smack down I had just received! He was so right, and I knew it. I kissed him on the head as he smiled and put his dollar folded into an airplane into the offering.

So often we sit there and try to be greedy with our money. I had heard, and even have told my children the very thing that Gabe told me. Yet we forget it so quickly. God is entrusting us with what we have, to see how we will handle it. We are stewards of His money. How would we want someone to use the money we gave them?

As soon as worship was over he was out the door and playing with the other kids. People sometimes look down on kids. It's sad. I think 1 Corinthians 1:27-31 (or the entire chapter:-)), says something very applicable to this situation. It also reminds us that we aren't "all that and a bag of chips". Mark 9:35-37 also comes to mind.

What really got me was my son wasn't saying what he said to show he was better. He didn't say it to make me look dumb or for any prideful motive. He was simply stating the truth, and he did it with love.

I hope we will ask the tough questions, like my class, and not just believe any answer given. I hope everything we say will be out of love. And I hope the next time we look at our bank accounts, we will remember, "it's God's, Mama."

A late night history lesson will break your heart.

Last night my daughter wanted to stay up late and watch a movie together. It is summer and I wanted the opportunity so I agreed. My son learned of our plans and I told him that he could join us as well. We browsed the movies and came across the diary of Anne Frank.
        Rachel studied the girl on the cover and and asked what the story was about. First, I told her that it was no story. I told her it is very true, every bit of it. Then I went on to explain about WW II and the Nazi's. She stopped me and asked who the Nazi's were. For some reason this stirred my heart. I felt that she needed to know this important part of history. I don't even know if they teach it in school anymore.
        It was settled. We were going to watch "The Diary of Anne Frank". I knew the story and knew it would be hard for my daughter to watch (she is 10). I however, believe that sometimes children need to be exposed to unhappy endings. I see so many of my daughters friends disconnected from compassion, and sympathy. It is our culture for young children to watch crazy movies and become callused to things around them. I know this is not always true, but it does seem to be a large number. I think all the external "junk" our kids are exposed to gives them a real disadvantage in the emotional department. It feeds a selfish, entitled attitude. The value of a human life seems to be less in the eyes of so many. It saddens me deeply.
        We all three settled down to watch the movie. It was a long movie and there were many questions along the way.
         It had been a long time since I had seen the movie or read the book. The more we watched and the more I remembered Anne Frank reminded me of my daughter. This gave me a new perspective on the movie. Before, I had watched it as a girl, relating to the young people in the movie. This time, I watched it as a parent, and related to the adults. New emotions were churning inside of me.
         The scene in the movie came where their hiding is finally discovered. My son crept over to my lap (He is 6yrs.) and had little tears in his eyes.
        He said, "Mama, those bad men are so mean. I wish I would have been there to fight them."
        My little protector.  I tried to smile at him, thinking of what I would have done had I been in that situation and told him, "My big strong boy, a lot of people died trying to fight the bad men."
        Then Rachel looked at me with tears down her cheeks and still welling in her eyes and asked, "Mama, does she live? Does her family live?"
         I took a deep breath. I hadn't expected it to stir their emotions so much, or mine. All I could do was shake my head and whisper, "Just her father, love."
        Then came the end scene and Rachel was hanging on to every word spoken by Anne's father about the fate of his family and friends.
         The movie ended with both children in my lap, with all of us crying quiet, sullen tears. My son was fairly easily comforted and after lots of hugs and kisses he felt much better. My daughter is a deep thinker. She would not be so easily comforted. She had so many questions. She wanted to know why I hadn't told her about this before.  She was somewhat familiar with WWII but only what it was like in america during the war.
        My daughter and I sat and discussed many things last night. We talked about relatives who had fought in WWII. We talked about how it would have been in their shoes. Then, we talked about how blessed we are.
       After much discussion, it was very late and time for bed. Rachel wanted to sleep in bed with me. I allowed it and soon after we laid down she was out cold. I laid there looking at her face and thinking of what it would be like to have our family separated and sent away the way the Frank family was. The lump in my throat ached as I thought of the feeling of helplessness. I envisioned the people who survived searching for months or years to discover the fate of the ones they loved. What heartache. Then a thought came to me. Death is not the end.
        My imagination swept me away to a reunion in heaven. People who searched for and never found the ones they loved. In all these scenarios it was always my family. I imagined it for a little while, then I could take it no more.
        I laid there and prayed. I thanked God for many, many things. The hope of heaven really is a grand hope. What would we have to comfort us in our times of sorrow?
        I will forever thank God for my family. Above all, I will thank Him for the hope He offers. The Bible is so full of promises that I know will be kept. When things look beyond hope, they are not. It may be difficult to see, but it is there.
        This morning I decided to look up Anne Frank. Unknown to me, the 25th, was the 60th anniversary of her diary being printed. Then I saw that she and my daughter shared the same birthday in June. I encourage you to look it up as well.
        History is an interesting thing. We can learn so much from it, if only we are willing to. The Bible tells us that the old testament (the part before Jesus, the old law) is there for us to study and learn from. Through out the years that are recorded you can see history repeating itself over and over. I suppose it will continue to do so. I believe that if we can learn from the mistakes of others, we should, and not make the same mistakes ourselves.
           Anne Frank had no idea the impact she would have on the world. Who knows what sort of impact we may have one day.