This moment happened when our daughter and her littles were staying with us.
Our son-in-law was working out of the state and since our daughter is still experiencing a lot of morning sickness, we offered for her and the grandbabies to stay with us while he was away.
One afternoon, our youngest grandbaby was just falling asleep.
She’s getting big, now that she’s a year old, and my arms needed the support of my rocking chair.
I moved it to the middle of the floor so as not to squish any toys.
Our Faye, came out of the play room and saw me rocking Joy.
She surprised me by turning around and running back into the play room.
I soon heard her moving a piece of furniture.
She drug the child-sized rocker from the play room and set it next to mine.
She disappeared back into the room and came out cradling a stuffed teddy wearing a diaper.
She announced, “I’m rocking my baby too. He’s tired and needs a nap.”
All smiles, she plopped down next to me and looked up with such an expression that brought tears to my eyes.
When her mommy came from the other room, I requested she take a picture of us.
Not just to preserve the memory, but to be a reminder.
A reminder to think before responding, because I also had a moment of embarrassment while they were with us.
It was their last day and I was trying to help them get things packed up.
Our puppy had been struggling to behave himself, especially that morning.
His excitement at the bustle and business was to let his bladder run wild.
(Imagine my horror as he left rings of urine around our grandchildren when they stepped onto the back deck!)
Obviously, I wasn’t impressed.
So, Basil had to be locked up.
Understandably, he was very loud in his protests of this.
Continuing noise drives me crazy, so his whining/barking was making my skin crawl and I was struggling to hear the requests of my daughter and grandchildren over the din.
I’d tried talking to Basil nicely several times, but the minute I walked away he’d start again.
I finally had it and told him to, “Shut up!”
He did.
I resumed my tasks and when our daughter came back inside from putting a load in the Suburban, she looked at me with a strange expression.
“Umm, Mom, did you yell at Basil or something?”
I nodded, not proud of myself and she pointed at her son.
He was playing at the coffee table with a metal car and saying something, but I hadn’t stopped to listen, assuming by his tone and actions he was talking in his play.
So, I stood still and listened.
“Shut up, Basil. Shut up, Basil. Shut up, Basil. Shut up, Basil,…”
I apologized to my daughter and then spoke to Bubba.
“Honey, Grammy should not have said that. It’s not nice.”
“It wasn’t kind to say, ‘Shut up’. You shouldn’t say it either.”
“Grammy is very sorry for saying something not nice.”
He studied my face.
“Will you please forgive me?”
He nodded.
“Please don’t say that any more, okay?”
He nodded again.
Both moments with my grandchildren are precious; they are a reminder to apply truth to my behavior.
Children are especially quick to duplicate our actions, our attitudes, and our choices, but it’s not just children that are influenced by us.
People are affected by how we speak, what we say, how we respond.
We never live in a vacuum, where our actions don’t have consequences.
Thus, the moments in life are precious, because each one is an opportunity.
An opportunity to live unto the Lord Jesus.
I love that through Jesus Christ each person can be made new, and that the process of being made in the likeness of Christ is a daily one.
And since all of us have moments we regret, let’s find peace through Jesus’s forgiveness and courage to live differently, no longer doing those things which we are ashamed of, but rather being renewed.
that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
Ephesians 4:22-24 NKJV
Dear Lord Jesus,
Thank You for Your Word. Thank You for Your gift of children! What blessings they are! Lord, thank You for the innumerable ways You teach me and hone my heart. Lord, I am ashamed of myself and the poor example I was to my grandchildren. Thank You for Your forgiveness and for teaching me through this. Lord, please keep me on a short leash, that I might not grow accustomed to any sin and allow it to become a lifestyle. Lord, help me to build my relationship with You and others that I might honor You in all things. Lord, thank You for showing me so many things as I walk daily with You. Lord Jesus, please continue to teach me Your will and guide me through Your Word. I love You, Jesus. Thank You for first loving me. Amen.
patientlyhopeful 