It all started one Thursday evening…
My husband just left for four days, and I got all three kids in bed. Finally I get into my bed. I pull out my book and get three pages in when the dreaded call came…
“Hi, this is Brenda with Montgomery County Schools, and you can turn off your alarm clocks because school is cancelled Friday due to the predicted forecast.”
What, Brenda? What did you say? First, NO SNOW has fallen on the ground. Second, Friday’s are my days off! So, no, Brenda, you can go ahead and take back that April Fool’s joke because it’s only March.
Here is some background information on me. I am a VERY routine person. I get up every morning at 4:52 and head to the living room for my quiet time. I am a mother of three kids and this, unfortunately, is the only time that I can have quiet, uninterrupted time. If it doesn’t happen in the morning it’s tough to get it in later in the day.
So, when my buddy Brenda called, I was immediately frustrated. I turned to my alarm clock and turned it off. Sorry, 4:52, I am going to need all of the sleep I can get if the kids have off of school and I am single-mom’ing it.
Morning came, and I woke up to an additional three humans sleeping in my bed. I tried to quietly escape the bed when one woke up. Then another woke up. The next thing I know all three kids were up and already arguing. WHAT WAS I GOING TO DO? Not only will I not get my quiet time in, but it’s waking up to EXTREME CHAOS.
*IDEA*
I decided to welcome the kids into my quiet time. I had them all lay down next to me on the floor and read with them. I opened up to where I left off in 1 Samuel and saw that I was on David and Goliath. The story everyone has heard approximately 173 times in their lifetime. So, we read through it. Then I quizzed the kids on some of the details of the passage because well… even if they didn’t have to go school, I was going to bring “school” to them.
Typically, I will read a passage and then look for articles that examine what I read from different perspectives. This morning I read an article about David and Goliath by Jon Bloom. In it Bloom talked about “God confidence” and how David was able to look back at God’s faithfulness to carry him through tough circumstances and rely on Him to defeat Goliath.
“This is good stuff,” I thought to myself. I made the kids repeat “God confidence” over and over again until they were yelling it. In that moment I felt like a good mom. I had my quiet time AND homeschooled my kids at the same time. So maybe I am not just a good mom, but SUPER MOM…
That evening we went to Target to pick up some things and again I dominated Target with three kids… Supermom strikes again.
Until I didn’t…
The next morning I decided to take the kids to the pool. I was in the bathroom getting ready when Scout came in playing with a toy. I said “Where did you get that?” She replied, “Finley got it from Target last night.” That’s funny, because I didn’t pay for this toy. I then summoned Finley, and he came running.
I sat down with him on my bed and told him that it was not okay to take something that wasn’t yours, and he told me he found it on the ground without packaging on it. I said again, “It is still not okay to take something that is not yours.” Then I followed it up with, “We are going to go to Target today, and take it back and apologize.”
A look of complete fear took over his face. It was probably something like when Goliath, at nine feet tall, approached the Israelites and they trembled in fear. It was THAT look that he had. He said “Oh no, mama, I can’t do that. I am sorry. I promise I won’t do it again.” I said, buddy, it is the right thing to do. We are going to do it. Then I brought up the whole David and Goliath story and told him that he can pray and have God confidence to do the right thing even if it’s hard. He then started to cry. Then mom started to cry.
Even on the drive there, he asked me every three minutes if he really had to do it. My response every time was “Yes, Finley, it is the right thing to do.” Then we arrived. I turned to Finley and we prayed… prayed for God confidence. The boy was terrified. We got in line at customer service. There was a long line which was torture for Finley who was pacing back and forth with his wallet in one hand and Star Wars toy in the other.
Finally, it was our turn. We walk up and I said “Hi, my son wants to tell you something…”
Finley stood up tall and cleared his throat and said, “Hi, I was here last night and took this home with me, and it is not mine. I am sorry. Will you forgive me?” She smiled at him and said thank you. He then proceeded to say that he would like to pay for it, and she can give it to another boy to play with. He took out his wallet and paid the $4.20.
We walked away and with a big sigh of relief he turned to me and said, “Mom, that was GOD CONFIDENCE.” I looked at him, and tears welled up in my eyes as I said, “Yes, son. God confidence.”
Then as we walked back out to the car he had one last request, “Mom, can you not tell dad?”