Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4
I was still in bed listening to my children laughing and playing together. Kevin had just left a little earlier and I was contemplating getting out of my nice warm cocoon and facing my day. Then I hear Jillian start to cry and calling my name. Now, these last few days..weeks..months, Jillian has been showing her true girl colors. Laughing one minute and crying the next, so I didn't go running because...well...she cries a lot and I usually discover it is just her emotions and nothing that I need to worry about.
Well......she really did have something to cry about.
Lady is a motorized train. The kids were all playing with their trains this morning and well, Lady decided to try and ride up Jillian's head. The boys do it, why can't Jillian.
At first glance, I thought that I would have to get out the scissors, then make the 45 min trip down to Aunt Kelli's tonight and have her "fix/hide" what I had to cut out. Jilli's hair was so tightly wound around Lady's wheels I thought that cutting was the only way.
Then the Lord whispered to me the word he had laid on my heart earlier..PERSERVERANCE..so I started trying to unravel the mess. Slowly I started to free one wheel, then the next. Soon I had one wheel left to go. It was the wheel that I deemed the hardest to release. I again thought about just grabbing the scissors and calling it a day, but I really didn't want my daughter to have spikes in the back of her head like her Momma. So I persevered and praise God, I got it out without having to cut her hair.
There were numerous pieces of hair that got ripped out in the battle to release Jilli's hair from Lady's clutches. But all in all, things turned out much better than I could have hoped.
What is the lesson in all of this?? Well, it was a great lesson of cause and effect for Jillian (yes, I am going to count this as part of school :-) It was also a great lesson for all of us how to persevere.
So often it is easier to pack your bags and run (or grab the scissors and just cut out, what is in the way) then it is to sit and work to fix the problem. It was a great visual explanation to what perseverance is. The good news, is that if we work hard and not give up, God promises us that we will be mature and complete, not lacking anything. What a great promise, in this world of brokenness!
So there you have it. It is wonderful for me to know that God can create a teaching moment out of nothing....but isn't that how we all came to be, formed out of nothing?...the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Gen 2:7
I am seriously amazed how God places teaching moments in my lap, ALL THE TIME. There are times that I have to scrap my lesson plans for the day and move over to let God teach his lessons. I am starting to think of myself as a substitute teacher....I just fill in for our Master, when he decides to let me or when I am not listening to his voice.
Thank you Father for your Word to me today and thank you that I was listening!
Blessings!
3 comments:
I'm glad, for Jilli's sake, that I didn't have to fix her hair : ) How'd she handle you pulling in her hair a little??
-Kelli
She did fine. I told her that..."you put it in hair, I don't want to hear any whining or crying when I take it out. Sit still and Mommy will have this done as quick and painless as possible." She is used to me pulling on her hair, so she was a trooper. She learned a lesson though :-)
I don't know what's worse--Lady or a wad of bubblegum.
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