Making my own Messes

Last night I was making Mason's 9th birthday (yikes!!) invitations. Ethan came to me (we had stayed home from church because Molly had a stye in each eye...at one point she had blood dripping from BOTH eyes. It was lovely. I'll post a picture later) whining from hunger. Now, he had just finished a generous portion of spaghetti-o's and a string cheese, so I told him that no, he couldn't have a snack.

"Mommy, bish!" (fish, as in goldfish crackers)

"No, Ethan, you just ate, and Mommy is busy."

"Bish, Mommy, peas (please)!"

"No, sweetheart.."

At this point Ethan throws himself onto the floor wailing. After my brief flashback to Rite Aid, I am brought to my senses and quickly administer the loving rebuke (i.e. a couple of swats on the fanny).

Honestly, here is where I have probably made my mistake: I then give Ethan the goldfish. The thing that he has been whining about and for which I have told him no repeatedly, I then hand to him on a silver platter (actually it was a little plastic cup, but you understand, right?). Basically, I just want to finish the invitations thank-you-very-much.

I then continue writing away. After a while I tune back in to what is going on around me. I hear a crunching sound, and turn to see that Ethan has dumped the fish (bish) out onto the kitchen floor and is stepping on them one by one. Unfortunately for me, I have caught him just in time for the last one or two.

Since these are the "rainbow" colorful goldfish, I have quite a mess to contend with.

Molly walks in and comments on how pretty all the crumbs look on the floor. (She is her father's "the glass is half full" daughter for sure).

After a brief encounter with the broom and dustpan, all is well. Clean, I mean.

Life seems full of these "little messes" (not just crackers on the floor) that require some time and energy, but don't really leave a mark.

Then, there are the other kind...the kind that leave big gashes and bleeding, oozing wounds that have to heal. Like the kind of messes we make with our tongues. I have been leading a Bible study on James (I think I mentioned that in an earlier post) and this past week we studied James 3:1-12...the passage on taming the tongue. James says that our tongues sets the course of our life! It reveals what we believe about God! The things we say are what bubble up out of heart - whether it be praise worthy or vile. God has convicted me over and over during the last couple weeks about the ways I use my tongue. I found this great verse in Proverbs 21 which says something like (not quoting) He who holds his tongue saves himself from calamity.

James goes on to say that no man can tame the tongue. So, I'm not condemned, but rather encouraged to look to (to RUN to!!)the one who can - the one who never said anything wrong or incorrectly, and who always said everything that needed to be said and said it rightly. I sometimes make huge messes that can't always be "swept up" like the goldfish. My improper use of my tongue and the messes I make with it help me see my desperate need of Jesus, and in turn, prompt me to pray for repentance and new obedience. And after all is said and done...that's what I want.