Just a little while ago, my youngest son ran into my bedroom skipping and smiling and saying, “Mummy, come see how much I did!”
Only moments before he had been huffing and pouting and generally disagreeable about the job he’d been given to do. Before DAD left for work, he told our little guy to sweep the dining room floor. The kids all do this at least once a week, so it was not a new chore. They are all very capable of doing this, so it was not a difficult chore.
As most children will do (although I’m sure YOURS don’t), my little guy proceeded to try to find lots of ways and excuses to get out of doing this job.
“I need to go pee…It’s too hard…The room is too big…It’s too much…I need help…”
I do not respond to whining in general , so I said nothing to any of these, except when he asked for help. I told him I would help him – by encouraging him. I clapped my hands and said he was doing a great job and I would be so happy to see it finished.
He was obviously not impressed! He said that that didn’t cheer him up any.
Well, then he also agreed that a spank for disobeying wouldn’t go any farther in cheering him up, so he went back to work.
I went about my “doings” – folding laundry, putting laundry away, throwing laundry down the laundry chute, picking up laundry out of the bathroom, gathering laundry from the corners of my room, etc… (did I mention laundry?) I’d been doing this for about 10 minutes, and that’s when he ran in, all smiles: “Come and see how much I’ve done!”
My first thought was, “Hmmm…he’s a little too happy compared to a few minutes ago. What kind of trick did he come up with this time?” Being the youngest child, he seems to have a knack for doing what we say, but with his own little twist. It’s usually humorous, always entertaining, but not always appropriate. So, I wondered…
We walked into the dining room together – well, he was mostly skipping – and he had in fact swept a large patch of the room! “Wow,” I said, “what a great job you’ve done!”
Then he said, “You know what? I thought about it, and I thought that God doesn’t like it when we don’t do what we need to do. And I felt Jesus in my heart {he said while placing both hands over his heart}, and I didn’t want to hurt God’s feelings, so I knew I needed to sweep. And I knew he’d be happy if I did a good job, so I want to do a good job! I don’t want to hurt God’s feelings. I could feel God and doing what’s right makes him happy. But you know what, too, Mummy? Not doing what’s right only makes Satan happy, and that’s not good. So I want to do my job.”
WOW! Praise the Lord, something is sinking in!! What sweet, simple truth from my 5-year-old!
We have talked a lot in the last 6 months or so about obeying our parents as one of God’s commands.
| Quote: |
| “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.” Colossians 3:20 |
When we disobey Mum and Dad, we’re disobeying God, too. We have talked about why Mum and Dad need to discipline our children when they are intentionally disobedient, because ultimately we need to train them to obey God, and obeying us is a vital step in that training. In a similar way to the way the discipline hurts and makes us and the children sad (for a little while), it’s breaks God’s heart when we willfully disobey and go against what He’s told us and the way He’s made us. And we can’t bear to displease our Wonderful Lord, because our hearts just don’t feel right and our lives just don’t seem to work out best when we make a choice to sin – and disobedience is sin. (That’s the gist of it, anyway; we usually use Ephesians 6:1-3, Philippians 2:14-15, and some in Proverbs, too.)
I told him how proud I was of him. I told him that he had learned something very important and it was a wonderful thing. I gave him a big hug and told him that I knew God was pleased with his good choice and his happy heart and shiny smile.
Now he’s up there, happily sweeping with his little broom, a little bit at a time. He came and said he was taking a little break, “But don’t worry, Mummy, I’ll finish my job.”
What an exciting thing for me to hear and see this morning! I just had to share!
Thank you, Lord, for showing me a tiny bit of the fruit of my labors. Thank you that your truth is taking root in my children’s lives and that it IS making a difference. Thank you for my Little Cutie and his sensitivity to your Spirit. Please bless him in his little jobs today, and warm his heart with your presence. Reward his obedience and new-found wisdom. Continue to draw him to Yourself. Love him and touch him as only You can.
| Quote: |
| “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9 |
Just so you know that this IS real life – I’ve just been informed that the lid was not on the table syrup and my little guy is now “a bit sticky”. Better go check that out. His other job must be done, but we probably just found a new one!
