Tag: kids

Myles laid on the couch, whimpering over a rotten headache he had while watching Tom and Jerry. After several minutes, he sat up and asked, “Hey, Mom, are you going to have another baby boy?”

I half laughed, half snorted, “No.”

“Another baby girl?”

“No more babies, Myles.” I tried to get back to reading an interesting blog by an aspiring author.

“Well why not,” he asked slightly irritated.

“I have all I need. Why do you ask?”

“Well,” he sighed, “everyone’s doin’ it.”

As if having babies is a trend! Have a great weekend everyone and I leave you with a quote from The Word for Today devotional.

“Every accomplishment starts with a decision.,,Unless you’re willing to take prayed-over, carefully-considered and well-advised risks, you’re not operating in faith. And ‘without faith it is impossible to please God…’ Heb. 11:6. It means putting all your eggs in God’s basket (don’t worry, He won’t drop them!). When you step out in faith, God moves and extraordinary things happen.”

It was definitely the word I needed for today! See you Monday!

I pulled into the car lane like I do every day to pick Bailey up from school. Myles sat in the back rambling about sleepovers and why he couldn’t EVER go anywhere. He’s six…seriously?!

He browsed through an Oriental Trading magazine and tossed it up in the passenger seat–he was bored. Nothing new there. I was busy…really busy…I was texting! He wanted to play I SPY.

We played a few rounds. It’s easy to guess when I follow his eyes to the object. I make things harder for him. I look at the object, look around, and then say, “I spy with my little eye…” Real Life is hard…why should I indulge him now–make him think things are going to always be a piece a cake. We don’t always get the right answer. We don’t always get what we ask for. Okay, so mostly I just enjoy irritating him, but I like to think I’m giving him good life lessons. When he’s grown–that’s what I’m going to tell him. “I was just preparing you for life, son…and…you’re welcome!”

I looked over after several more rounds. I was sick of playing and Bailey was about to make her way into the van and I needed to mentally prepare for tween drama…oh for the love! Someone was devastated, hacked off, disappointed, revved up, or tortured emotionally…as everyday but I’m glad to hear it, because telling me EVERYTHING is better than telling me ZILCH!

Anyway, I glance over at a white car and say my thing, “I spy with my little eye something white.”

Myles throws out a few guesses and just as I take a big swig of my diet A&W he says in a very somber tone, “Is it that jacked up car right there?”

Root beer flies out my nose and mouth and I go into a convulsing coughing spell, laughing hysterically. “Yes,” cough, sputter, cough. “It is actually.”

The car next to us had what I like to call “rubbing” marks all down it. Like a scuffed shoe mark on white tile. Lots of scuff marks to be exact. I hadn’t noticed it really when I was picking a white object. I just saw white.

Myles saw all the marks and scuffs.

I got home and after the burning in my nose stopped, I sat down and it hit me…I’m so glad and amazed that God doesn’t see me the way Myles saw that car. I have more scuffs and scratches than I can count. I’m betting you do too. Sometimes, that’s all I see in myself.

God doesn’t.

“You are all fair my love and there is no spot in you.” Song of Solomon 4:7

Not convinced?

“And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight…” Colossians 1:21-22

I’m thankful that He doesn’t see me as I do. He sees me as He’s called me to be. Holy. Spotless. Blameless. That’s comforting. That’s mind-boggling. But it’s who I am.

It’s who you are too!

So with that in mind, what are you doing here?

Yesterday, I was having a conversation with Myles about his classroom management system. When he gets warned he has to pull a “light stick”…green means one warning but a good day, yellow means two warnings…red is big trouble! Myles gets green a lot and sometimes yellow. (He’s a talker…shocker!)

I asked him what do the kids in his class do when they pull their sticks? His reply, “They cry all day.”

“Do you cry when you have to pull your stick?”

He looked at me as though I was crazy as he said, “No, I just pull it and pretend I didn’t.”

My mom and I laughed at his remark but this morning I was thinking about it and it dawned on me he wasn’t ignoring the fact that he got in trouble and had to deal with the consequence of pulling his stick, which included coming home for mom and dad to see it and deal with it…he was moving on with the rest of his day.

He messed up. He accepted it. He dealt with it and he moved forward.

I think we could take a lesson from his attitude. We’re going to make mistakes and mess up and there’s nothing wrong with crying over mess ups and sins in our lives. Godly sorrow leads to repentance…but if we cry about it all day long how are we going to focus on what’s ahead? There are still things that we have to get done. If we continue to boo hoo over missing the mark then how can we hear the Teacher when He gives us our next assignment and He will give us more assignments! Our behavior might be unbecoming, but His blood covers it when we ask forgiveness and MEAN it…then He forgets–tosses it out as though it never happened and He moves on with us. The question is–can we move on?

Mourn it–pull the stick, face the consequences knowing that the Father disciplines those He loves and then suck it up and pay attention for the next lesson of the day. Who knows, maybe tomorrow you’ll get a happy face!  Myles rarely gets them, I rarely do too…I think his teacher and mine are just being gracious!

I know many of you wonder if my six year old son really says some of these things I generally post on fb. The answer is yes. If you’re a close friend, you can testify–as you’ve heard it yourself and sometimes if my phone is nearby and it’s a full blown conversation, I record it as proof. Here’s a run down of our afternoon.

It was 50’s day today, as they celebrated their 50th day of school. Here’s the dialogue:
“So, Myles, was anyone else dressed for 50’s day besides you?”

“No, well…yes, just one other boy.”

“What’s his name?”

“I don’t know.”

“You’ve been at school for 50 days! How can you not know his name?”

He looks at me with a somber face and then he does that smirk many of you have seen, “Well, it’s like this, mom…I just don’t care.”

I try not to laugh, “What do you mean you don’t care? How can you not care?”

He shrugs indifferently, “If he falls, I can say…’hey, you okay, pal.’ Pal works just as good as his name and I showed I cared.”

How do you argue with that!?

During homework this evening:
“Mom, I didn’t have time to wait on you to finish jogging, so I cheated on my spelling–but I’m done.”

The spelling words are on the side of the sheet and I’m supposed to cover them up and read them to him. “Myles, cheating is wrong.”

“Yeah, but it’s also fast.”

We did redo the paper and he protested the entire time. We can learn a good lesson. Cheating is fast, but integrity is more important! Myles doesn’t think so…but one day…maybe it’ll take!!