𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚

For those of you who don’t know, I am an adopted mother of two beautiful girls. When I first got them, we used to do Bible activities every Friday night. We’d read one chapter together then get crafty. Sometimes they were my own ideas, sometimes they were suggestions I’d found, but always we made sure to have a tangible product that could be displayed. (See pictures below) 

Well, my youngest one was usually content to spend time with me. Even if she didn’t stay on track, she just really enjoyed the family time. My older one usually complained her whole way through it. In fact, they both really rushed through, making it feel like I was giving them chores. “Is this enough? Do I have to do more? …” 

So I stopped for a while. Of course, we still spent family time but not doing that and probably not activities that were as interactive. Well, guess what? My oldest one started complaining. She missed doing it. Can’t win for losing, right? 

We did it again one night. They didn’t complain as much.

The big complaint that night was that we were doing it on the wrong night. Again, can’t win for losing, right? I realized, though, the value of that time spent together: the tangible keepsakes, the lessons learned, the family bonding, the loving attention, the memories embodying all that. We’ve all heard that parenting isn’t always the easy choice. What strikes me and what I love about this experience is how it was the kids who came back and essentially said to me, “Mom, be a parent like that again. I know I act like I don’t like it… but do it anyway.”   

I think often we’re all like kids in that sense. Maybe we don’t want to do it the right way and we pout and kick and scream against God for all His rules. But take that structure away and we’re lost, craving the comfort and serenity of His omniscient guidance. 

In a stroke of irony, the story we did tonight was Noah’s ark. If ever someone had reason to kick and scream against God’s orders, it was probably Noah – tasked with building a gigantic rowboat for an upcoming Storm of the Millenium-and-Then-Some. Can you imagine the huge sigh of relief Noah expelled looking around at his family, safe & dry on that rowboat on Day 40 of the rain? 

“𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥; 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘏𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴: 𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘸𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘯.” 𝘗𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘮 37: 5-6