Greedy Gut.

 

 

If you've been around kids...or at least MY kids...for more than a minute...escpecially siblings..you cant help but notice the competition for attention, snacks, game time, toys, EVERYTHING. They are jealous OF each other and FOR each other. Somebody wants what somebady else has because its better than what they already have...

 

Can I get a witness?? 

 

The other day I had had JUST about enough.

 

I mean...

 

Like...Fo realz. 

 

If you're a parent...you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about.

 

That moment when you look at your kid(s) and you mentally calculate how much timne you would get for pinching their little heads off...and you KNOW you've had it when, after your calculations, you decide that getting locked up would be a vacation, lol! 

 

It was one of those days for this momma. No amount of singing, praying, or 'hiding' in their Creator (to whom, at that moment in time, I was considering sending them BACK to) was helping. Lol, Finally at one point, I threw my head back and bellowed:

 

"ABBA!!! THESE CHILDREN!!! HELP. ME. I do NOT know what ELSE to DO!!" Followed by considerable amount of 'Desperate Voice' prayer language. Needless to say, it got their attention...ha!

 

Scared them to DEATH is probably more like it.

 

Wyatt (My 13yr old), snickered and implied(to his older brother..who was snickering as well) that they(the littles in question) had really dealt themselves a rough hand...being that he, HIMSELF, had been on the receiving end of that outburst on more than one occasion and recognized the desperate plea to the Father NOT to snuff out impish little dimpled grins........stinkers.

 

Anywho.

 

Immediately following this incident, if you can call it that, it was time for lunch. I made their favorite...PB and J. I poured the milk in their cups, specifically pouring the appropriate amounts that each child could handle without making a mess.

 

I brought the plates to the table...and it began.  

 

"I want the pink plate!" from Nacho.

 

"No, I want the pink plate, Elisha!" from Maddie Rose.

 

"Dats MY pink plate, Maa-lynn." from Thunda.

 

Why were they so determined to have the pink plate?

 

 Because, one of them said they wanted it and, of course, the others would not be outdone.
 

"SERIOUSLY?!" The hard-fought-for patience was slipping. "The bread is the SAME size. There is the SAME amount of peanut butter and jelly on EACH sandwich. This is Madelyn's because it's PINK! I got it out for her because she's a GIRL and the pink plate has always been hers!"

Disgruntled silence at the table accompanied by some tongue-sticking-out.  X_x

Next came the cups.

I came around the counter with these cups, that you could not see thru, and began to set Malachi's cup down. He is a bit clumsy without a sippy, so he gets a little less in his open cup than the others who can deal with it better.

Nacho saw Malachai getting his (blue) cup first and said, "I want the blue cup!"

I looked at him and then back at the cups in my hands, wondering why he would ask for the lesser amount??

Obviously, he couldn't see the amounts in the cups. If he could've, he CERTAINLY wouldn't have wanted the blue cup, lol.

But I was the one who had prepared the cups.

I knew exactly how much was in each cup for each child, because I had poured it with each of them specifically in mind.

So what did I do?

"You want the blue cup?" I asked him.

Emphatic nodding and bouncing curls answered me most assuredly.

"You sure you don't want YOUR cup..the orange one?"(which is his fave color, btw..)

Again with the nodding, "I'm sure, Mommy!" He streteched his little arms out to receive the cup from my hands.

"You might be disappointed with it...You'll like the one I made for you much better.."

"Nope. I want THAT one." he stated as he pointed to the blue cup.

So, I gave it to him and placed the others in their places.

He looked into his blue cup and then into the cups of the others, and his victorious smile fizzled out.

"Hey! Malachi's got MORE than me! That's not fair"

I shook my head at him, "It's perfectly fair."

"Mommy!" indignant tears of injustice welled up in his little blue peepers.

I shook my head. "Elisha. You asked for that cup. It wasn't made for you. I made it for Malachi. Malachi has the cup that Mommy made for you to have, but you wanted his instead. I tried to tell you that you wouldn't be happy with that one, but you insisted....so now? That's YOUR cup. Next time, dont be so quick to give up your cup. Baby, just because it's given first, doesn't always mean its the one you really want."

As I turned to walk away from the table,

Papa God ZINGED me.

"This is how My children behave, too..."

I could feel His sadness and I listened as I cleaned up the fixings from lunch.

"Always fighting over who gets to do something first, or jealous of each others blessings. They will even forfeit what I have prepared just for them in order to get what I prepared for someone else...simply because it comes faster, or they think it will be better..."

I was reminded of my own discrepancies in that area.

"They do not understand that they are my CHILDREN and I will bless them all. There would be no 'competition' if they truly understood the spirit of adoption which makes them mine."

Woah.

"There is no 'better' or 'best' blessing. There is no 'red-headed step-child'. I bless because I love, and

I. Bless. All."

 

Thank You, Abba.

 Thank You for adopting us.

Thank You that You pour just the right amount for us, with each of us specifically in  mind.

Forgive us for turning our own portion away for the less satisfying portion of another.

Forgive us for blaming You when we aren't satisfied with it...when it was our own choices that kept us from our portion...not You...

Forgive our jealous ways.

Help us to better understand the spirit of adoption by which we are Yours.