Tonight when it was time to leave for Big Church The Kid in my house was one mad dude! He caught a baby box turtle today and he felt the turtle really needed him to stay home. But I am bigger and meaner, so we loaded up. The whole way there The Kid complained. He said he had already heard preaching today; I told him about the guest who would tell stories. He said he hated stories.
Once we arrived and parked in front of the portables, he thought it would be fun to wait there while I attended church. Again, since I am bigger and meaner, we began our long, slow, arduous walk to the front of Big Church. Along the way, there were small hills to run up and down and little banisters to climb and slide down. There were people to talk to and bugs to look at. It took us 10 minutes to walk 50 yards!
We sat up front and he spent the first two songs whining about being in church. Then the preacher’s wife just had to sit right in front of us – the pressure to look happy while secretly wanting to strangle a child during a worship song was on! He did not sit still at all, wiggling all over me and messing up my hair (have I ever said I hate people messing up my hair in public?), and laughing too ridiculously at funny stuff that he didn’t understand. I was not happy with him at all. I even wished I had left him at home – but only for a fleeting moment.
I did wonder, however, how this sweet boy who seems so concerned about the spiritual welfare of others could be so bad at church. This child who loves Jesus and sees the blessings in the smallest things – how could he not want to be at church!? And as I wondered, I heard God asking me the same question, “Barbara, how can you say you love Me, even work for Me, and then not long for fellowship with My children? Why would you ever complain about being in My church?” It’s not often, but I confess that there are times when a little longer in bed or just a break at home sound good to me. Maybe I can be a little more empathetic with The Kid and a little more forgiving as well. After all, he is one of the greatest sources of my life lessons for now.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Elephants, Clowns, and Blessings
Saturday, July 14
The circus is in town. The really big circus with the real clowns that go to clown school. We really wanted to take The Kid. He is a big fan of circuses. The biggest one he has ever seen, though, is the one at the fair. As we struggled with how to spend our “entertainment” money, we concluded that there would be another circus on another day. Going to the movie would be just as fun.
The Kid had no idea what we had been thinking. Midday, a friend called who “just so happened” to have one extra ticket to the really big circus. The only catch was they had to pick him up in 10 minutes. The Kid was so excited that he was ready in 3 minutes! While helping him get ready, the dad in our house explained to The Kid that he had just been blessed and to remember to say thank you to our friends. Ever thoughtful and quick to speak, The Kid said to his dad, “Don’t you think we should just thank God directly?”
Little kid, Big words…………
Oh, and thank You, God, for when the friends blessed The Kid, they blessed us, too!
The circus is in town. The really big circus with the real clowns that go to clown school. We really wanted to take The Kid. He is a big fan of circuses. The biggest one he has ever seen, though, is the one at the fair. As we struggled with how to spend our “entertainment” money, we concluded that there would be another circus on another day. Going to the movie would be just as fun.
The Kid had no idea what we had been thinking. Midday, a friend called who “just so happened” to have one extra ticket to the really big circus. The only catch was they had to pick him up in 10 minutes. The Kid was so excited that he was ready in 3 minutes! While helping him get ready, the dad in our house explained to The Kid that he had just been blessed and to remember to say thank you to our friends. Ever thoughtful and quick to speak, The Kid said to his dad, “Don’t you think we should just thank God directly?”
Little kid, Big words…………
Oh, and thank You, God, for when the friends blessed The Kid, they blessed us, too!
Thursday, July 12, 2007
When I Grow Up…..
After spending almost a week apart, The Kid and I were catcing up on lost time. We played and read and sang together. Then it was bathtime. At his request, I stayed in the bathroom while he played in the tub after bathing. We talked and listened to Camp Bebop music.
Times like this (kinda like the times when you are driving and your kids are in the backseat chatting away, forgetting that an adult can hear them) hold the best talk. Half to himself and half to me, he said, “I guess I’ll be a preacher and an inventor when I grow up.” I couldn’t stand it; I had questions, the most obvious of which to me was, “What will you invent?”
As if that was the dumbest question I could have asked, he said, “I’ll invent new ways to tell other people about Jesus, of course.” Then he continued, “I’m working on a bubble machine. Bubbles will blow up and then they pop and you never see them again. But God never pops and goes away forever.”
I’m thinking…pretty good object lesson development, especially for a six year old. Following a brief pause, he looked up at me, pointed his finger and said, “And you can use that in your ministry.” Who even knew that he knew I had a ministry????
I can’t wait to see what God has planned for him! In the meantime, I’m asking God to help me see the ordinary everyday stuff as tools that can be used to share Jesus with others. And if I can't figure it out, I'll just ask The Kid!
Times like this (kinda like the times when you are driving and your kids are in the backseat chatting away, forgetting that an adult can hear them) hold the best talk. Half to himself and half to me, he said, “I guess I’ll be a preacher and an inventor when I grow up.” I couldn’t stand it; I had questions, the most obvious of which to me was, “What will you invent?”
As if that was the dumbest question I could have asked, he said, “I’ll invent new ways to tell other people about Jesus, of course.” Then he continued, “I’m working on a bubble machine. Bubbles will blow up and then they pop and you never see them again. But God never pops and goes away forever.”
I’m thinking…pretty good object lesson development, especially for a six year old. Following a brief pause, he looked up at me, pointed his finger and said, “And you can use that in your ministry.” Who even knew that he knew I had a ministry????
I can’t wait to see what God has planned for him! In the meantime, I’m asking God to help me see the ordinary everyday stuff as tools that can be used to share Jesus with others. And if I can't figure it out, I'll just ask The Kid!
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
It's All About Perspective
Somebody had the great idea that a churchwide picnic on July 1 would be lots of fun! (I might note here that that somebody wasn’t there for the fun!) At any rate, even with the huge probability that it would rain on our picnic, we packed up our ice chest and loaded the chairs and The Kid into our currently unairconditioned van for our evening of fun.
We got there early, staked our spot, and ate our sandwiches pretty quickly. (This turned out to be a good idea, because all uneaten food was covered with ants within 30 minutes. The ice chest was no deterrent for those reservoir ants!) Before we had finished the sandwiches, the first round of rain came through, sending everyone there to the covered pavilion. It was a quick gottcha kind of rain, over almost as quickly as it began. It didn’t take long to reclaim our spot and pick up conversation where we had left off.
It also didn’t take long for the next round of rain to come in. This one was different. It didn’t start with those warning drops that get bigger and faster; it came in as a huge wall, the “one-minute-you-are-dry, the-next-are-soaked” kind of wall. The only warning was the visible sighting of it as it invaded our picnic with one fell swoop! People ran for the pavilion once again….the picture of people running in reminded me of news clips you might see of people running to escape a tidal wave. The wall was not one of those straight up-and-down walls; it was one of those walls that blows in at an angle, such that it was hard to escape it, even under the pavilion.
As soon as I fond dry ground, I began to look around for The Kid. It didn’t take long for me to find him playing like a duck that’s just found water for the first time in a very long time! He was jumping in puddles, holding his mouth wide open catching the rain, and finding slippery muddy spots to “skate” on. I lived vicariously for a few moments. Then it began to occur to me that everyone else was telling their kids to stay dry and out of the wet and mud. Some were even watching Austin, then looking at me….I think they wanted me to tell him to stop. But I could not make him stop. There was no reason to – no thunder or lightening, he was already wet, and besides the only way to get to the car was going to be through the mud puddles.
When the downpour stopped, we decided to not wait to see if another one was coming. We grabbed our stuff and a wet, muddy Kid and loaded the unairconditioned van once more. As we were leaving, The Kid was positively glowing from all the fun he had. Then he said, “I wish God would make it rain every day!” My first thoughts were, “You don’t know what you’re asking for,” then “You’d get tired of that very quickly,” and then “You don’t have enough shoes!” It took a few more minutes for me to understand that it was not his perspective that was out of whack; it was mine.
From the beginning of the journey till the end, I saw all that was not so fun about the afternoon – the heat, the huge chance of rain, the ants, the rain itself, the ride in the unairconditioned van, the muddy clothes and shoes – get the picture? The Kid was grateful for the time together, the fact that he could see the rez from our picnic spot, the friends he played horseshoes with, the large bag of bar-b-que chips he got to walk around with, and the rain and all it brought. (He even wanted to stop and show some friends how wet and muddy he was!)
God, please do some serious surgery on my perspective. Give me the eyes and a heart of a child that somehow only see the great stuff. Thank You for the six-year-old teacher You’ve placed in my home.
We got there early, staked our spot, and ate our sandwiches pretty quickly. (This turned out to be a good idea, because all uneaten food was covered with ants within 30 minutes. The ice chest was no deterrent for those reservoir ants!) Before we had finished the sandwiches, the first round of rain came through, sending everyone there to the covered pavilion. It was a quick gottcha kind of rain, over almost as quickly as it began. It didn’t take long to reclaim our spot and pick up conversation where we had left off.
It also didn’t take long for the next round of rain to come in. This one was different. It didn’t start with those warning drops that get bigger and faster; it came in as a huge wall, the “one-minute-you-are-dry, the-next-are-soaked” kind of wall. The only warning was the visible sighting of it as it invaded our picnic with one fell swoop! People ran for the pavilion once again….the picture of people running in reminded me of news clips you might see of people running to escape a tidal wave. The wall was not one of those straight up-and-down walls; it was one of those walls that blows in at an angle, such that it was hard to escape it, even under the pavilion.
As soon as I fond dry ground, I began to look around for The Kid. It didn’t take long for me to find him playing like a duck that’s just found water for the first time in a very long time! He was jumping in puddles, holding his mouth wide open catching the rain, and finding slippery muddy spots to “skate” on. I lived vicariously for a few moments. Then it began to occur to me that everyone else was telling their kids to stay dry and out of the wet and mud. Some were even watching Austin, then looking at me….I think they wanted me to tell him to stop. But I could not make him stop. There was no reason to – no thunder or lightening, he was already wet, and besides the only way to get to the car was going to be through the mud puddles.
When the downpour stopped, we decided to not wait to see if another one was coming. We grabbed our stuff and a wet, muddy Kid and loaded the unairconditioned van once more. As we were leaving, The Kid was positively glowing from all the fun he had. Then he said, “I wish God would make it rain every day!” My first thoughts were, “You don’t know what you’re asking for,” then “You’d get tired of that very quickly,” and then “You don’t have enough shoes!” It took a few more minutes for me to understand that it was not his perspective that was out of whack; it was mine.
From the beginning of the journey till the end, I saw all that was not so fun about the afternoon – the heat, the huge chance of rain, the ants, the rain itself, the ride in the unairconditioned van, the muddy clothes and shoes – get the picture? The Kid was grateful for the time together, the fact that he could see the rez from our picnic spot, the friends he played horseshoes with, the large bag of bar-b-que chips he got to walk around with, and the rain and all it brought. (He even wanted to stop and show some friends how wet and muddy he was!)
God, please do some serious surgery on my perspective. Give me the eyes and a heart of a child that somehow only see the great stuff. Thank You for the six-year-old teacher You’ve placed in my home.
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