I used to be so neat and organized…and then I went and had all these children! Haha! I would rather have them and the mess than to have a neat, organized life and not them! It’s taken me a while to say that!!! My minivan is a great example of a “mess”. It’s just down-right embarrassing. I’m not even joking. Right this very minute it smells so bad that I am certain an animal had to have gotten in there and died! How does that happen? When I open the doors I am constantly reminding my children not to let any trash or shoes or dolls or cups, etc. fall out! It’s a disaster!
Let me switch gears here and tell you about this past Tuesday. It was just another summer day, except that daddy was out of town. We played with friends, went to the pool, ate popsicles on the front porch and were silly together. We had fun! My children also screamed at each other, some hit and pinched each other and they grabbed things from each other. At other times we didn’t have fun! At 6:00pm I went to break up another tussle in the playroom. This time I meant business! I said to my children, “I have had it with your behavior today! That’s it, mommy’s done, everyone upstairs to bed!” And with that we all went upstairs and began putting on pajamas.
I was helping the girls get their princess nightgowns on and we were talking about how they had not been acting like princesses during the day. They agreed. I was talking specifically to Ruthie (2 yrs. old) about having a heart of kindness and love. She looked at me and as serious as could be said, “me want purpy (purple) heart!” So much for that! I just had to laugh! But I couldn’t laugh about how they had all behaved that day. All except 8 week old Jack, he was wonderful!
Is there a connection between my messy van and my children’s behavior? I think there is! Just like my van is mess, so are our hearts. My van is full of junk that we have to be careful not to let fall out. My children’s hearts and mine are full of junk (sin) that comes out in what we say and what we do. Luke 6:45 says, “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.”
All our words and actions are merely a reflection of our hearts. There is good news though, our God is wonderful at cleaning up messes! We are people with messy hearts and lives, but nothing is too messy for Him to bring cleansing to. Not only does he clean up the mess, but he replaces it with His Spirit which brings healing, joy and new life! He is SO worthy of all our praise, for there is no one like HIM!!!
So I was one tired momma Tuesday night. As usual the Lord used my children to teach me something wonderful about His character. How often has God “had it with my behavior?” Probably more than I would care to count. Oh my goodness I’m so thankful that He’s never said to me, “that’s it, I’m done!” Instead, he’s patiently and lovingly cleaning my heart out one behavior, one sin at a time. Praying to be more and more like our amazing God as I raise my children to know, love and serve Him! More of You, Less of me…that is what I want!
“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10
Joyfully,
Ashley
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