It started with my warning that the particular part of the yard she was heading towards was very muddy. I cautioned her to be careful.
She kept going...heading straight for trouble. A few moments later she informed me that her Crocs had mud all over them.
"Better on your Crocs than all over your body" I replied.
She behaved as if that were a suggestion and promptly squished the bare toes of her left foot into the mud.
"Oooh. This feels good."
At this point my caution turned to a request."Please do not get in that mud. It will ruin your nice school clothes."
"I'll be careful," she insisted as she continued to dabble.
"K, this is a bad idea. I do not want you to be covered in mud. It is almost time for dinner."
"It is OK, Mom. I won't get too messy."
At this point my love and logic consequence kicked in. "If you get mud on those clothes, you will have to pay me for them. It will take $20 to replace your outfit."
At this point my husband walked up and added, "K, I'd listen to Mom if I were you. That is a lot of money that you will not have for other things you may want like toys or treats."
Then that little spitfire looked right at me and said, "I don't need toys and treats. I just need Jesus."
I was stunned.
I told her I appreciated her perspective, but that Jesus would prefer that she show her love for Him with a bit more kindness and obedience. I was quite sure Jesus would not advocate such sassiness.
Whew! Am I in trouble or what?
She did wind up getting mud on her clothes and I will be taking $20 from her as she earns it.
I did not realize Amy Beth snapped this shot as I washing the mud off of her. When she e-mailed it to me I was left with a real visual of our sin nature.We just want to dabble. It will be fine. We don't have any intentions of getting hurt or doing anything that will leave a permanent stain on our heart or our character. We toy with it...and before we know what happened we are covered and left with stains and a debt.
Then we are ashamed. We knew better. We were warned. We feel a bit foolish. Sometimes we even get mad about the consequences...even though we had been warned beforehand. We weren't really listening then. We thought it would be different for us.
Oh, praise the One who paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead. Jesus.
12 comments:
Thank you so much for your comment! I actually remember reading through your blog a couple of months before I found out I was having triplets! What an amazing story you have - God is sooo good! I'm amazed at how He weaves His power and glory in our lives. Thanks for your encouragement and prayers. I truly appreciate it, and I know my "resting" days are numbered - I can't wait to dive into being a mom again!
Love,
ML
Can I just say I so admire you! I have one just like K.- and she is a tireless joy...and she absolutely exhausts me...she requires constant parenting. I cannot imagine trying to raise two more alongside her at the same age. I love reading the stories about them, but know that I pray that you won't get too exhausted- I know how hard that job must be. Thanks for the stories! Enjoy it, it goes so fast.
My K- got busted this evening for dipping into trouble. My bath water was hot and I asked that she not dip her dolly into my water, as I didn't want her to get burned. She dipped a dolly foot in. As I spoke with her and told her that she openly defied me, in went the back of the baby noggin. Oh Lord give me patience! She ended up in time out.
My sister had a baby this weekend and I had her two with me. I had ages 5, 6 and 8 in my home for 2 1/2 days. I didn't sleep and was run ragged with "I'm hungry," "I'm firsty," "They aren't sharing," "[so and so] is being mean," "I want - -," "That's not fair!." And I have to tell you, they all really got along pretty well. Girl, I admire you!
Have you read Beth Moore's "Get Out of That Pit"? Her point is there are three ways we get in "pits" in life: We sometimes get pushed in unfairly (like Joseph), we sometimes jump in with both feet because of a sin nature...but sometimes we just get closer and closer and closer to the edge that we should not be standing near and slip right in.I'm sure I've had lots of mud on my Crocs in a spiritual sense,too! The picture is priceless.
I love how you take the "everyday" happenings and turn them into "life lessons" - with 3 very little ones of my own, I am learning alot from you! Thanks!
"We thought it would be different for us" is so true. Lesson learned from this. Thank you for the reminder. I raised a K and now SHE is raising a K. We need all the reminders we can get. Thanks JenMom!
Good for you for making her pay for her clothes. It will be something she won't forget and will make her stop and pause the next time.
At least it helps with my kids. K is quite the spitfire :)
Love this. Love it, love it, love it.
I echo Amy Beth's ... Love this, love this, love this!
Sometimes God whispers quietly to me or is silent and then sometimes, like today - he yells so loudly it is deafening. You were used in a mighty way today - more than you will ever know. As much as it hurts, I needed it.
I appreciate so much your sticking to your guns and making K pay for the clothes. I have a 7-yr-old who has always been a spit-fire. She has learned over time to tame the attitude, but it is still a work in progress.
The hardest part for me is sticking to what I say the consequences will be. It would be much easier in the moment to let it go, but definitely harder the next time to try and stop the problem. So a lot of times I'm the "mean Mommy" with her and even get chastised from parents. But I can see the big picture and what I need to do as a parent and I thank you for showing us your strength (and love!) during a tough moment.
Amen.
I learned this lesson (again) this week. There's no dabbling in sin. Enslaved to sin or enslaved to God....
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