The other day Lee heard two little girls arguing in a bathroom. One said ... "Mom told me to tell you to wash your hands." The other little girl said "Mom's not here." These two beautiful and innocent little girls proceeded to discuss the subject of hand-washing with the compliant girl insisting that the other girl should wash her hands just because mama said so. The non-compliant girl is preparing to go out and lie to mom about the whole thing. It was a classic battle of how we, as people, think.
Aside from just not wanting to be told what to do (I have a little of this in me) and the compliant girl wondering why she is even bothering on this, what can we learn from this conversation? Maybe a couple of things. First, let's realize that the innocent, perfect little people we call children are naturally attuned to doing what might be called "sins against mama." I don't know how to say it except to say it direct ... kids seem to have a natural ability to lie, fib, blame others for their mistakes and generally be sneaky little folks. I have talked to many parents who had children they said would never lie about things ... they all were proven wrong and had to face the fact that kids lie (sorry parents). We, as parents, are around to make sure we tell them lying is wrong and be sure that enforced/consistent consequences follow bad behavior.
The second lesson is this. While mama might not have been there in the bathroom, mamas seem to know when we are being bad or doing wrong. And God was in that room watching those little girls sort out the hand-washing crisis. Adam and Eve, in the garden of Eden, messed up and God knew what had happened. God knew the centuries of consequences this meant for all of humanity. Yes, our nature is sin. Yes, sin has consequences. Yes, God sees us when we miss the mark. But there is a final yes ... yes, God has given us a way back to His presence through the atonement and forgiveness of Jesus. God sees us and loves us anyway. Randy
No comments:
Post a Comment