"But Jesus called them to him, saying, 'Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.'"
- Luke 18:16-17
Sometimes it's easy to let the little things get you down... when in reality we should be allowing the little things to cheer us up.
Think about it! How many little things are all around us that can put a smile on our face if only we stop and look around.
I'm notoriously grumpy. I let stupid things bother me and I know it's completely rooted in my pride and selfishness. I've got a good life. If you think about it most of us do. So why do we get in bad moods? Well... life happens as some say. But I think the key is to try and remain positive and when it's difficult to do that; to look around and see the little things.
So that's what this blog is all about. Some of the "little things" that have cheered me up over the last week or so.
For instance, impromptu dress up with our children's clothes on our heads! How does one suddenly decide to drape your kids clothes on your head you might ask? Well, when both your kids come tramping down the stairs with an arm full of their previously folded clothes from their drawers.
What are you going to do? Absolutely could have gotten mad... instead we had some fun.
It's easy for me to get hung up on trying to teach Bob a sense of justice when he continuously takes things away from his sister, or even hits her. If it was up to me he'd probably be spending eternity in his "time out" corner. I get so focused on teaching him justice that I often forget mercy. And when I'm focused on this I can miss out on great "make my heart smile" moments.
After a series of particularly stressful moments this morning I had to stop myself from reigning justice over Bob and pull myself in. He was tired. He was sad. And he was crying. So, instead of another time-out I pulled him over to the side and looked him in the eye.
"Bob," I said, "I'm sorry I'm getting so angry with you. You need to know that you deserve to be loved. I love you very much and I'm going to keep trying to love you even more."
Well, that not only settled him down a bit, but he got a HUGE smile on his face and wrapped his little arms around my neck. "I love you too dad."
How often do we take the time to tell not only our children, but also all of our loved ones, that we love them. And I don't just mean the obligatory "I love you" in the morning, or when someone is leaving. But to really let them know with your words how much you love them. It's amazing what it can do and I need to do it more often.
I need to realize more often that my children are mimicking my own actions. Like when I called a "time out" during play to grab a Spark because I was just dragging, Bob followed me into the kitchen and asked, "Dad, can I have a rehydrate? I just need a little pick me up too." Good grief, lol.
Often I hear Bob from the other room saying to Mary (usually after she's hurt herself somehow) "It's okay, Mary, it's okay. Jesus loves you."
It's these moments and others like them that remind me that life is okay... no, sorry, life isn't just okay. Life is great. God has blessed me in so many ways that I just don't deserve!
So I need to remember the scripture above. I definitely wanted to grow up way too fast. And now that I am "all grown up" and have been given great responsibility, I still need to remember to just be silly sometimes. And that's okay.
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