My eldest daughter screeched, “Ouch Mom! I’m all scratched up!”
“Well why don’t you were gloves Kels?” I responded… so began the next conversation with the kids…
(I know what you are thinking… wow she over does it when it comes to these metaphors… but really, honestly… can you over due teaching when you have hours of weeding… plenty of time to sing and laugh and simply sit quietly working hard together… is there such a thing as one lesson a day that relates to weeding? I think not! I use any opportunity I can get to teach in ways my kids understand and will remember.)
So on went the lesson in how thistles (which are one of the two main weeds referred to in Gen. 3:18) are prickly and the hurt. They scratch you up terrible and are really hard to get out bare handed, right? We talked more about how weeds are like sins in our life, but this time in regards to the scars they leave, the wounds they can potentially create in other people’s lives.
Just as weeds leaves scratches, that heal over time, so do our sins leave “scratches” in other’s lives when we sin against other people, hurting them. Forgiveness and grace help to heal the wounds, but being responsible means we need to be humble, and willing to look at the sin in our own lives, recognizing it doesn’t always only effect us. We need to be willing to see our sin, our foolishness or selfishness and try to live in victory over it so we don’t keep hurting other people with it.
As we talked my five-year old spoke up, “like when you get mad at us for not obeying and it hurts our feelings?” Wow… conviction! “Yes, Drew… just like that… I need to have self-control over my temper so I don’t hurt your feelings.” Then I had to take advantage of the opportunity to share once again, how mommies and daddies sin just like little kids do. We all need to have self-control over the temptation to sin. The rewarding part was that once I confessed my sin again before them, then one of the kids said, “well mom, we sinned first by not obeying, you wouldn’t have gotten mad if we would have obeyed… sorry.”
“You are right Austin, the reality is that sometimes our sin does tempt others to sin.”
Then Megan pitched in, “it’s like how weeds grow and make seeds and then those seeds become more weeds.”
The reality is that our sins do leave marks; and sometimes our sins effect our relationships long term. Our selfishness, pride, lack of compassion, following our fleshy desires (like not wanting to share a toy, not wanting to do a chore, or being a poor sport at losing a game), and so many more … all effect our relationships long term as well as short term. We need to be aware of this truth and be motivated not to hurt those around us.
Thanks for joining us for more “Gleanings from the Garden”
God Bless,
Angie & the Kids
