Out of the mouths of babes...

When Janna, our eldest (now 27 years old) was about 9, she was watching me wash the car. I was standing on a step ladder, washing the top of the car, when she came outside and said, “Mama I want to help”. So, I gave her a bucket and a sponge and asked her to wash one of the tires. She sat on the driveway and washed, and washed, and washed….and washed…washed…that one tire. She was scrubbing the rubber part like there was no tomorrow! I told her that she need not worry about the rubber part; that once I moved the car it would dirty again anyway. As I was walking past her to the other side of the car, she mumbled something that wasn’t quite clear to me. However, since she was in a Christian elementary school, I kind of thought she may be saying something Scriptural. So I asked her to repeat it. She said, very simply, “Momma, the Bible says, “Do everything as unto the Lord”! I stopped in my tracks, dumbfounded, yet so humbled and moved to the point of tears….my young daughter had not only learned the Scripture, she understood what it meant, and was applying it to a real-life situation. I leaned down, hugged her tightly and kissed her on top of her head. She said, “Momma, why are you crying about that?” Then I spent the next few minutes telling her how proud I was of her for learning God’s Word and applying it to her life~ and how she had taught me such a profound lesson in that moment!

A few years later, in middle school, she wanted to try out for the school softball team. Tryouts were going to be over a 3-day period. The day tryouts started, she was home with a very bad case of the flu. I called the coach that afternoon and explained that she wanted to be there was quite ill, and would likely not be there the following day either. She assured me that was fine, that she could try out on the 3rd day. The 3rd and final day comes and she is still home with a fever, but begging to go so she could try out for softball. I explained that she could not go with a fever, but assured I would contact the coach again. They were going to have the names of the players listed on one of the school doors the following Monday morning (this was on a Friday). When I explained her situation to the coach, she promised that they would NOT post the list on Monday, and that they 2 coaches would work with her alone on Monday, allowing her to try out for the team. Can you guess what happened? Monday morning they had the list of the team members posted on the door! A done deal! I was unaware of this until she got in my car that afternoon after school and she told me. I was furious! I was hurt for my child! I felt offended and lied to! I went straight home and called the athletic director at the school and gave him a mouthful! My daughter was so upset with me, as she did not want me to make a big deal out of it. When I hung up from speaking with him, the coach called me and apologized. She then stated that they only had a certain number of uniforms and no funds to purchase any more and they felt comfortable with the team they had chosen; however, they would allow Janna to try out the following day. “What are you thinking?” I asked. “You’ve chosen your team! Do you really think I will let her come and try out for the 2 of you so you can turn around and tell her yourselves that she did not make the team…that you only have a certain number of uniforms…blah, blah, blah? No, absolutely not!” I hung up the telephone shaking, tears streaming down my face, and sweet, precious Janna looked at me and said, “Mom, it’s OK. Evidently God did not want me to play on the school team. He must have something better in mind for me!” Oh my goodness! Here we go again, with my daughter reminding ME what the Scripture said, and calming me down~rather than vice versa! Again, I am stopped still in my tracks, again humbled, and in awe of how God would us my child to teach me, the adult and supposedly her role model, how to live like Jesus would live! And, once again, I hugged her, told her of how proud I was of her, and thanked her for giving me the gift of admonishment to take God’s Word to heart.

In mentioning to my daughter today what I was blogging about, she said, “Well, Mom, you can take it a step further”. She told me that one of the neighbor girls, who is much older than our 3 ½-year old granddaughter, had mistreated her last week and hit her on the head with something. Then, she didn’t even follow up by saying she was sorry. Janna and Mike were both frustrated about it, and simply told Carleigh that she would not be able to play with the neighbor girl anymore. Carleigh, our granddaughter, said, ‘Well, Mom, just because she was mean to me doesn’t mean we cannot be friends. Sometimes I am mean to people, but they can still be my friend.” My daughter said that she, too, was humbled and recognized the truth being spoken to her from her young child.

Out of the mouths of babes we can learn a lot….if we but close our mouths, open our ears, and let our heart be filled!

What a mighty and precious God we serve!