What It All Comes Down To

Last night we had an experience with one of our sons that rocked our world a little bit. I’m sure it won’t be the last time we deal with this issue, but it was most certainly the first time we’ve had to confront it in such a blatant manner.

Last night our son lied to us.

Ok, so he’s lied before – they both have. But never quite so…intentionally. He did something he knew he wasn’t supposed to do, and then he brought it up just so he could tell us that he “didn’t” do it. Too bad he didn’t realize there was a pretty blaring flaw in his alibi that his daddy would (and did) catch immediately after it left his lips.

I’m glad that Dad was in the car, not only because he figured out the truth and we were able to handle it, but also because he was able to actually confront it and announce a fair punishment in a very calm, matter-of-fact voice. I, on the other hand, found myself rather shell-shocked and at a loss for words right at first. I mean, how could this be? My sweet, innocent boy actually premeditating a lie?

We spent the next several minutes walking through what he had done wrong (from the original offense on down through lying about it), and talking about why he shouldn’t lie, how it hurts all of us when he does lie, and how he really has no reason to be mad with us for punishing him because that’s the consequence he chose when he decided to break the rules. I don’t think I have to tell you that it was a long, tearful evening that ended with him asking to go straight to bed instead of taking a shower and eating a snack.

At the end of the night, though, it really all came down to this: I know my son, and I know that he’s a lot like me. I knew that if we left things on a down note, he would beat himself up over all this for the next several days. So before I let him go to sleep I made him look me in the eyes while I told him three separate times, “You are a good boy – you just made a mistake.”

I started to think about it later, and I have a feeling that a lot of us need to hear that. How many times do we do something wrong and then totally beat ourselves up over it because we just can’t let it go? Especially if it is something that we’ve been struggling with not doing? It’s hard to admit that we’ve messed up again, but – if you’re anything like me – it’s even harder, then, to believe that it does not define you as a person.

But you know what? Jesus went to great lengths to come to this earth and die for our sins so we could be a whole lot more than the sum of our mistakes. It’s called grace. And because of it, our Father in Heaven somehow sees us as perfect – covered with the redeeming blood of His son.

Even redeemed people mess up every now and then, though, so just in case you need to hear it, here it is:

You are a good girl – you just messed up.

Now, tell your Daddy you’re sorry and move on, because He’s already let it go. Accept the gift of His grace and rest peacefully tonight knowing that tomorrow is a whole new day full of opportunities to grow and maybe even make a few better decisions.

He loves you, and He’s proud to call you His own.

Deep Thoughts (or not, actually)

Man, I’m struggling this morning. I have to just come out and say it. Not so much in like a spiritual sense or anything, but to physically get up and get going. Apparently, by the way, there’s a reason why they call it “Instant Breakfast” and not “Instant Something You Drink Part Of Before You Go To Bed”. I don’t know what’s in that stuff, but I might as well had a Mountain Dew last night – I hardly slept at all! And that’s the only thing I can think of that was different about my routine or my diet yesterday. Who knew?

So that, combined with the fact that I accidentally poured too much sugar on my Rice Chex this morning as I was trying to lightly sweeten them, and boom – I’m ready for a long, fat nap. Now all I have to do is convince the grocery shopping, my doctor’s appointment, work, the house cleaning and my rather impetuous four year old to put life on hold so I can actually take that nap. Yeah, I don’t see that happening, do you? I think I’m going to have to figure out something else, and fast.

That all being said, I had great intentions of writing something that actually made sense this morning, but I’m having a hard time at the present moment even thinking anything that makes sense. My head feels like it’s full of a thousand conversations being played back in slow motion. It’s a very heavy, muddled mass of confusion up there, and I just don’t think anything productive is going to come out of it right now. So I’m afraid I’ll have to leave you with an apologetic good morning, and a vow to try and write something more intelligent soon (when I’m not under the influence of Instant Breakfast and sugar).

I guess I’ll go now, get dressed, drive to the store with Little Man, shop for groceries, fight over why we don’t need yet another pointless toy, brainstorm a week’s worth of meals, and decide on something for lunch so I can come home and haul it all upstairs and put it away.

Time Out.

That nap’s sounding like a really good idea…

Invasion of the Sanity Snatchers

Oh mercy, friends. We’ve been battling head lice at our house this past week.

Bugs. In our hair. Yuck.

I think I’ve tried every homeopathic treatment (and one not-so-homeopathic treatment) I’ve found on the internet, and though it has gotten 98% better, there is still the issue of every now-and-then finding one tiny little egg. Then you have to wonder, is it an old egg that I somehow missed, or is it a new one and we have to start over?

Not to mention to whole physiological phenomenon of feeling lice whenever you think about them, regardless of whether you have them or not. You know, like some of you are probably itching right now just reading these words. You have no reason, really, to think that you have lice, but what if you itched and it really could be them? Do you know how many times a day I’ve thought about lice over the past week? That’s a lot of phantom itching that starts to make you wonder….do I have lice, or am I going crazy?

Or is it both?

This is definitely now the number two question on my short list of things to ask Jesus when I get to heaven. Number one is still why do men have what we refer to on our boys as “chest buttons” (I mean, seriously, why do they need them?). But what’s up with head lice is now firmly planted at number two. I’d really love to know what was going through His holy head on that one. There’s gotta be a reason, right?

I can honestly say, however, that this whole experience has changed something in me. I now know that when we get that little slip of paper in the backpack from school that says “Your child has been exposed to lice in the classroom”, that it’s really an urgent prayer request for a struggling family sent out by an institution that’s not allowed to officially ask for prayer. If they have to mask it as a “warning”, then so be it. But I now know the truth: Someone out there needs some spiritual intervention before they lose their religion over piles and piles of laundry, hours of vacuuming, and days of treating and combing nearly invisible specks out of the heads of impatient, wiggly little kids who can’t go to school even though they most certainly feel well enough to wreck the house.

So please pray for us, and for the thousands of other families this week who found their wheels spinning in a different direction the moment their kid reached up and furiously scratched his innocent little head. I know that they, like us, would love to have their lives back.

Next time I get a chance to write, I have something I want to share about God’s heart that I learned last week (you know, before our sense of peace and security was invaded). But for now I’m afraid I have to run…

…I think I just felt something move in my hair.