A Story and a Lesson

My children teach me a lot. Sometimes I get a rather profound lesson from events that seem silly to others or sometimes even gross - like the time I blogged about sin and snot. I had another of these experiences recently so I thought I should share..........

The Story

Sunday afternoon I had the kids all down for rest. Tripp was unusually quiet so I figured he must have actually gone to sleep. I was tired so I vegged on the couch instead of getting up to check in on him. When Paris got up she started a movie. Viv was still asleep so I told Paris she could open Tripp's door so he would start waking up. She did as I asked and then exclaimed "Oh Bubba, why are you naked?" I got up and headed to his room to find him naked from the waist down. Then I was hit buy a foul, foul smell. Then I saw it. True to form, Tripp had waited until rest time when he would have on a pull-up to do his "business." Once done he had removed the soiled undergarment. Instead of following his normal routine of crying until I get him a clean one however, he decided that his poop did indeed look remarkably like brown play dough. I can only imagine that he first touched it and flung it off his hand thinking it as yucky as it truly is. Then after looking at it a while, maybe he decided it wasn't all that yucky and playing a little would be fun. I'm sure once he started playing it just became so much fun he couldn't stop. He proceeded to "paint" his toy shelves a lovely color of brown. He smooshed and smeared his new found plaything into his toy piano and left pieces of it all over the carpet. When I realized what I was starring at I was in shock. So, I took him by the hand over to the bulk of the devastation (the toy shelves) and said "Tripper, No no. We do not play with poo poo." I spanked his little naked rear with my hand and told him to sit on his bed. I made him stay there as I cleaned up the colossal mess he had made. When he saw the toy shelf shining white again he sat up and proclaimed, "Ah keen! Good job Mommy!"

The lesson:

This one is really pretty simple. Isn't this how we are with sin in our lives? At first it's easy to say no. But the more time we spend around that thing or person or situation, the more we start to think it's not so bad. We begin to understand the "other" point of view on a topic or we start to feel entitled to a little bit of "fun." It doesn't matter what the sin is, at some point we decide it's OK and we start to play with it a little. It is so easy from there to just get so involved that we don't have any sense at all how big a mess we are making. And then we find ourselves standing before our Father, naked, in the middle of a big, stinky mess. With all the love and gentleness in the world he tells us no no. Sometimes he even spanks those of us that are a bit thick in the skull. And we always find ourselves sitting by, watching him do the work of cleaning up our mess because we are so totally incapable of repairing the damage on our own.

I suppose the good news is this: since Tripp had his "artistic outburst" he has put his poo in the potty everyday. If only I learned so quickly the lessons God is trying to teach me.

Father, thank you for cleaning up my messes. Thank you for sending your precious son to wash all the brown play dough from my life. Help me Lord to stay as clean as I can. And when I start to play in something that smells of Satan, stop me, tell me no, spank my naked rear end if you have to. Put me in time out and help me look at the reality of what I have done. Forgive me Lord and wash me clean again, and again, and again..............and when you have brought me through yet another of my stumbles Lord, let me give you all the credit with a resounding, "Good job Daddy! I couldn't possibly have done that on my own. The credit is all yours. Thank you for your patience and love and meticulous cleansing of my soul." Amen.