wild hearts
We have a 90 pound boxer named Jasper. Given the opportunity, he will run for the hills. Tonight I made fajitas for dinner on a cast iron skillet and smoked out the place. We don’t have great ventilation in our kitchen, so I just opened the doors and windows and turned on the fans. The only thing blocking the door was the broom that held the door open, which has to be propped open because there are self-closing hinges on it. To keep Jasper in, you know?
Well, I got a little distracted with all the pots on the stove and he crept closer and closer to the door, hoping to make a break for it. When the kids caught on to his plan, the set up a blockade for him. First they set the bikes in a row to close off the open space. Then they put the boots in a line to... I guess they were there to trip him up before the bikes. It was a perfect setup. The only problem was that if Jasper had had the opportunity to get out, he would have made a break for it. The broom and the boots and the bikes couldn’t have stopped him.
In the same way, we can put all the measures in place to keep our kids safe. We can put up the fences to block them in. We can teach them right from wrong and steer them accordingly. But at the end of the day, children are born people, and people have individual wills. We have a responsibility to do everything in our power to train our children in the way they should go, but we must be quick to offer mercy when they go astray. We must be willing to explain and extend grace when they make mistakes. If you put the fences so high that they can’t test out their legs, there won’t be any room to mess up and learn how to try again.
When I send one kid to tell another kid to do something, 9 times out of 10 they return to me in utter frustration after the kid didn’t do what they were told. I always have to remind them, “I asked you to tell her, but you are not responsible for making her do it.” And honestly, that’s it. We can teach and train and model all day long, but the human heart is wild. Only a merciful God can truly tame it.
Pray, mamas!! Pray like your universe hinges on it, because it really does.
“pray without ceasing;”
1 Thessalonians 5:17 NASB1995
Thank you for these words, I needed them. Oh how I love a good Jasper story too.
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