We covered nearly 400 miles in the car today and I have decided that perhaps this trip has no other purpose than for God to reveal to me how easily irritated I am. Tonight as I put the boys to bed, I asked them to share about how our attitudes were today. Our latest mantra goes something like this,
Me: "Jesus says that the person who loves Him will..."
Boys: "Keep His commandments."
Me: "And Jesus says, this is my commandment that you..."
Boys: "Love one another."
So I was originally planning to ask the boys to talk about how well they had loved each other (pushing, pinching, stealing, and yelling were all regular parts of our day). I think I figured this piece of pedagogical brilliancy (read rhetorical question) would serve to help them reflect on how poorly they had achieved this command of Jesus throughout the day.
Yet when I went to ask this, it came out something like, "So how do you think Dad did at loving the family today?" Their answers were embarrassing and sad to me. Here is a sampling:
Clay: "You yelled at me (for being loud -- for Pete's sake the kid is 6)."
Will: "You got really mad -- well, not really mad...just kind of...annoyed with us when we did certain bad stuff."
Joe: "You put drops in my eyes."
Granted that last one is actually loving as we seek to eradicate Joe's eye infection, but the first two are pretty pathetic. Before I start challenging any of my family to examine their loving actions toward someone, I heard the message today that I have a long way to go on this one. By the power of the Holy Spirit, I am hoping that the Lord gives me a loving heart so that I can more reflect Jesus to my family and the people around me. We ended tonight with the boys asking Jesus to help dad love more -- their prayers seemed heartfelt and I really want this.
Just don't plan on any long car rides with me for a while until I grow in this area.
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