A Terrible Life

I am sitting on the couch last night talking on the phone to my sister in law about a great book a friend had picked up and left at our house. The Liver and Gal Bladder Miracle Cleanse, just by the title I am sure you are all as interested as I was when I first saw it too. Press on past the boring title and check it out at your library or just buy it because it is SO interesting! As I was reading it I thought to myself, "My sister in law needs to get this book and make my brother do this cleanse!" So I was reading little blips of it to her on the phone and we were chit chatting about this and that when my little darling came and sat by me crying and said, "Mama, has anyone ever told you that I have a terrible life!"

OK a little more history, this child is upset because after dinner their job is to clear the table. This child is naturally slow so we really have to keep on her. Last night I watching her "clear" the table and realized that she was not even trying so I said we would set the timer and in 5 minutes it needed to be done. 5 minutes later she was not done, she had forgotten about the timer and played more. I had just checked out a Thomas the Train movie from the library that day and the children were watching it, yes all but the 13 year old get sucked in to Thomas :) I tolled her that she would not be able to watch the movie with them, ouch! I think she would have traded a spanking for the movie in a heart beat. She started to cry and barter. "Mom can I do work to earn back the movie..."

"No"I stood firm, wanting this to forever put an end to the pokeyness of clearing the table.

Tears...more tears.

I tolled her she could look at a book or color, she didn't want to. I handed out cookies for dessert, she wanted those but she was still really bent out of shape about the whole thing.

Now I am on the phone, ignoring the melt down coming from her bedroom. It hurts when you cant watch Thomas the Train at our house. This consequence was perfect and was going to be the break through we needed, I was not about to melt. This is when she comes in to ask me if my heart was filled with sadness. I didn't say anything to her, I was on the phone and my heart was not troubled. That is when she got my attention by saying that she had a terrible life.

Are you kidding me??? A terrible life! This little girl got cookies, juice, chicken nuggets, a Wendy's Hamburger, a day to town with mom and dad and she comes home and says she has a terrible life! I excused myself from the phone call and talked to her about believing lies that the enemy wants us to believe, lies he will whisper to us till the day we die, tempting us to not be thankful, to not be content. Then I broke out the youtube videos of starving children, naked starving children. I wondered if she would think anything about their nakedness, we try to be very modest in our home with how we ourselves get dressed to what we put in font of our eyes. These children were very naked,the breasts of the naked mothers trying to nurse were nothing, nothing but collapsed skin.

As we watched the videos I would ask her, "Do you think that baby think that you have a terrible life?" "No." She was seeing. We talked and talked and watched and watched. Our hearts breaking for these little lives, precious lives-a terrible circumstance but their lives are precious still, not terrible. One child holding another child on a hip and holding a dirty old bowl with some white liquid in the other hand smiled like it was Christmas. Probably because their was food in that dirty bowl.

As I went to bed last night I thought about why this child would say such a thing to begin with. None of my other children have ever said anything like it. I realized this one has one job, to clear the table. She is cute and sweet and has a lot of older siblings to do the chores. She wakes up, gets dressed and begins her day of play. There are very few things I require of her. I realized we have created an environment for her, a false one that send the message that we are here to serve. Here to serve her.

We know that it is more blessed to give than to receive, when we give we receive much. When we are always on the receiving end we only want to receive more. This is where her heart is, how easy to believe a lie then. I remember when Heaven was just 5, cleaning the bathroom cheerfully by her own self, cleaning her bedroom, helping in the kitchen. Setting and clearing the table and doing it quickly with a smile. Heaven now has a heart that bakes bread and takes it to our neighbors with Bible tracts. In the midst of this snow storm we are having she grabs her brothers and shovels and asks if they can go shovel snow for an elderly neighbor. Her heart loves to give, her eyes have grown up seeing what needs to be done.

I know that little one who thought that their life was terrible may not at first love the idea of taking over the bathroom cleaning job or the bedroom cleaning job or adding setting the table to the already burden of clearing it. She may think she is Cinderella. This won't be easy for me, I am going to have to remember to delegate down to her. I have multiple children I have already spent years training who can clean bathrooms and set tables much faster than she will be able to. This will be inconvenient for both of us but I know that she will not be a happy girl now and will only continue to grow up into an unhappy lady,mama, wife etc.

The Lord says He chastises those He loves, may I see my own chastisements as love and a chance to grow rather than cruel punishment and may this child also learn this lesson quickly. May God ever be at work in our hearts and may our hearts ever be open to Gods work.