Yesterday, I shared some questions I think we should all ask ourselves as parents. It always helps me to take a step back from parenting and examine my heart and my motives in how I parent. Today, I wanted to share with you a “proud dad” moment.
Every once in a while, he gets in these daddy’s boy moods. He’ll copy everything I do, he’ll beg me to play with him, and he’ll go out of his way to be extremely well behaved. Well, yesterday, my son grabs my finger and guides me into his little play area. He’s got about 30 matchbox cars, cars from Cars, monster trucks, and various other cars (do you see a theme?) all lined up in a row. He loves to do that for some reason! Right now, they are across our whole den (my wife calls it a living room, but it’s a den) floor!
He sits me down and we have this conversation:
E: Let’s play cars together daddy!
Me: Yeah, that’d be fun!
E: O.K. Yay!
Me: Which car can I play with?
E: Ummm…(you can see the wheels turning in his head…he scans over the cars and he lands on one in particular). Daddy can play with this one!
It may not sound like much of a conversation, but my little boy had just made a very selfless, generous decision. He gave me his much beloved Lightning McQueen car. Even better, it was an intentional decision. I love that and it was such a sweet moment to see my little guy sacrifice a little something for his daddy.
I wish it were that easy for me to give in real life. I cling to stuff so tight. Don’t get me wrong. I give here and there, but I give my leftovers. I give what I can afford to lose. My little guy – he gave his treasure. What a great lesson I learned, but such a difficult one to apply.
Have a great weekend!
Posted by *~Michelle~* on November 10, 2009 at 10:34 am
Don’t you love it when God teaches us such powerful lessons through a simple gesture of a child?
Sounds like you are doing a great job raising your son…..
Posted by Matt on November 18, 2009 at 3:53 pm
My little guy teaches me stuff all the time. It’s fun to look at things through a kid’s eyes!
Posted by uberVU - social comments on November 10, 2009 at 11:25 pm
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Posted by Ministry Addict on November 24, 2009 at 3:16 pm
In Matthew Chapter 17 three of the Lord’s disciples saw Jesus transfigured – His outward appearance transformed from within by the glory of His deity for a brief moment. They fell on their faces, trembling in fear at just a tiny glimpse of His glory. Therefore, in Chapter 18, we could expect their reaction to be, “Lord, Your majesty and splendor have overwhelmed us! What might we do to serve you better?” Right?
Wrong! Chapter 18 records their most pressing question: “At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” (Matthew 18:1) The disciples wanted to know the same thing that a distressing number of Christians want to know today: “What’s in it for me?”
Jesus answered by summoning a small unspoiled child into their midst, and told them, “Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:4)
Before the Lord imparts His glorious grace upon His human creations, He wants to see the quality of humility. (James 4:10) Humility, it is sometimes said, is not thinking too much of oneself, or too little of oneself. However, a close inspection of Christ’s teaching here is that true humility is actually not thinking of oneself at all. Imagine the freedom and the inspired power that God can impart to His children when they no longer care how “great” they look to men, but instead begin to get zealous over how great God looks to men, and how much God can do to help the people they encounter on a daily basis.