Our Greatest Task

I have not been able to get the Graves Family out of my head these last 2 days. My heart is breaking for them. Maybe it's because I look at the picture of their sweet boy and I see my own boys. I see their smiles. I see them playing and splashing in the water, like all boys love to do. I see us spending a fun evening together on a sandy beach watching fireworks. I see my boys picking up rocks and washing them off in the water so they can add them to their rock treasure collection. I hear their laughter as they splash each other in the water.

Then...I see myself looking away for a split second.

And I see disaster striking.

I imagine the sounds in my mind. The terror. The panic. The helplessness.

I imagine the grief. The regret. The what-ifs. The unimaginable sorrow...forever.

And I just cry for this family. And pray. Because parents....this could have been any one of us. There is not a parent among us who can say that we can see our children 100% of the time. That we can foresee every disaster that might strike 24 hours a day. Or that, even if we foresee it seconds before, that we could get there in time to prevent it.   

Those pointing fingers at this family should be ashamed.  Ashamed because they are claiming to be perfect parents.  Ashamed because they are not showing love and compassion to this family during this awful tragedy that they are having to endure.  Ashamed because they are teaching their own children by example to harbor these same arrogant and unfeeling, hateful attitudes towards others.   Ashamed because tomorrow, it could be them.   

Friends, we are given these precious children by the Lord to love and care for, to feed and clothe, to teach and train.  We have no idea how many days and hours we have to spend with each one here on earth.  As much as we may wish, we can't put our children in a bubble and protect them from every accident that they may come in contact with throughout their lives.  We Just. Can't. Foresee. Everything.   

But the Lord sees.  He sees our faults, he sees our failures.  He sees our children…and loves them even more than we do. 

Our greatest task is not to prevent all accidents.  It is to teach our children to love the Lord, to serve Him, to have faith in the One that gave them life, so that when their life on earth is over, they will have eternal life. And to do this, we should be modeling Christ-like behavior in every way we can, every single day.  So take a moment and love these parents.  Pray for them with your children.  Have compassion.  Put yourself in their shoes.  Show your children the way that Christ would act in this situation. 

And put down your weapons.  Stop accusing.  Stop spewing hateful words toward these parents.  Stop thinking that you are so much better than they are because "this would just never happen to you".  Stop pointing your finger at these parents, and instead turn it on yourself.   Have you been perfect today?    

Why I'm Done Apologizing

I say it every time someone comes through my front door.  I mean every. time. It goes something like this: 

"Please don't look at my house!  I'm so sorry it's such a mess!"  And then I proceed to try to explain how I really DO clean it, but for some reason it just keeps looking like this.  All. The time.  And how if they had just come 2 days ago, they would have seen the living room looking pretty darn clean.  Or perhaps the kitchen that day.  Not both at once, mind you, but maybe at least one. I always just feel this need to apologize….

But I'm done now.  And here's why.

1.  I'm tired of saying it.  I have considered making it the ring on my doorbell.  Or maybe just installing a little speaker outside the door that just plays that phrase on repeat.  It would save me so much time.

2.   People don't care.  I mean really.  And if they do….well, they might want to consider not coming over for the next, say, 15 years or so.  Not only do they probably not care that it's a mess, they really don't care about the reason it's a mess on that particular day. 

And the last, and most important, reason is something I have, after 8 years of raising children, just realized.

3.  There is no reason to apologize.  My house just….is right now.  It just is the way it is.  Being a homeschooling family means there are 5 little people running around this house all day long every day.  They play a lot.  And by play, I mean make messes.  At least that's what it looks like to us boring adults.  There are more tractors on my floor than there are at a tractor show.  We have enough matchbox cars and Legos to supply an entire city with at least one of each.  My pan cupboards are always strewn around the kitchen because it entertains my little guy while I cook.  We have books EVERYWHERE.  On the floors, in the windowsills, on the beds, under the beds, in baskets and bookshelves, upstairs and down.  Annie reads about 13 chapter books at one time, all throughout the day, and she leaves oceans of picture books behind her wherever she goes.  There is always about an acre of dirt, sand, and food on my floors by the end of the day that may or may not be swept up by tomorrow.  This is my life, folks. 

I am so very blessed.

My boys play with trucks together and come up with the coolest things to do with them (did you know you can do more with trucks than build a parking lot?)  I love watching Paul's face when he discovers something new as he is toddling around getting into things, crawling onto things, and splashing into things.  One of my favorite things about Annie is her love for reading.  She gets so excited about books and can't wait to get her hands on them every day.  I love it!  My kids love to play outside, and the Lord has blessed us with a big yard and plenty of things to do in it.  I love seeing them play, laugh, and run together in the sunshine and dirt.    

I have the privilege of being my kids' teacher.  I get to teach them to read, to add and subtract, to write, and most importantly, to teach them about the Lord and the kind of person He wants them to be - and I get to do it every single day.  I have them at my fingertips to train and teach and love and disciple.  Wow!!  What an awesome blessing and responsibility! 

So, yes.  My house is a mess.  But it's ok.  Because the Lord didn't give me 5 children so that I could train them about the importance of having a perfectly clean house at all times.  He gave me 5 children to raise for His glory.  And I'll take that over cleaning toilets any day. 

Picture is of a pan of oatmeal that started IN the pan and ended up
with half all over the dining room floor, and the other half mushy in the pan
because 3 boys decided to see what would happen if they dumped water in it.
**It has been 3 days and I am still finding oatmeal.**