The Gift of Disobedience
I walked into the kitchen to this. I dropped my keys on the counter, turned to walk into the den to just have a moment, and I turned to see this. It was a typical morning of, “ Time to wake up!” or, “go brush your teeth,” (for the 10th time) and the wonderful, “put your shoes on, please,” ending with “do you have socks on your feet?” We all made it out alive.
I walked into the kitchen to this; a beautiful little bouquet of yellow flowers in a water bottle. They are a gift from my daughter. They are actually a gift birthed from an act of disobedience. See, these were picked yesterday, while she and my son were on a forbidden, time stopping, OMG, where are the kids(?), parents in a panic stricken search, let’s traipse through the woods with my brother, slash, ok, you start walking through the neighborhood, they can’t be far because she’s on skates, but I’m getting in the car to be quicker, kind of adventure. Yes…one of those. One thing my husband and I have been doing lately is allowing the kids to play together outside without us hawk eyeing them all the time and yesterday they decided they were going to go on an adventure. These are the times you regret free will…lol
Needless to say, they got in trouble. Like, I haven’t seen my husband quite so upset in a very long time. Obviously he was, as was I, because not being able to find them TERRIFIED us! As I slid back into the driveway, after not finding them, I was relieved and furious at the same time to see my two little people, and my husband, all three with very different expressions on their faces. Everybody was a wreck. This time, during this discussion of what just happened, I played the role of the calm but visibly shaken parent as my husband was the parent who was almost ready to lose it emotionally (thats usually me, HA!) We were both firm, but deep inside I was smiling. Why…? I was smiling because this was the first time I can remember that they had made a decision to venture out in a new territory OUTSIDE, no less, together. They weren’t trying to kill each other, arguing or vying for our attention. They were working together. I was grateful.
After a stern talking to, a quick apology session, tears, grounding, hugging, gratefulness and ending with my husband explaining we weren’t angry, (not in that particular order) but we were just concerned because the world has a lot of strange people and even though we have an awesome neighborhood, bad things could happen. All of these events spanned over maybe 15 minutes; it seemed like hours. I realized the girl had these flowers in her hand as she was sent to her room. I didn’t think another thing about them.
Until this morning. Through the hustle of the morning and getting ready, the girl (that is what we call our two little ones in public, the girl and the boy, lol) found time to find a water bottle and put the flowers inside of it before we left. I never noticed until I came home. I smiled when I saw them. They were so pretty in the light. I didn’t want to move them and I ran to get my phone to take a picture before the light changed. It was precious. It was thoughtful and kind. She knows I love cut flowers, plants and all things beautiful here. Even though, these were a product of a time of disobedience, she still wanted to leave them for me. I’m sure when she picked them, she didn’t think she was doing anything that she wasn’t supposed to be doing. She was just with her brother, enjoying the adventure of nature, and knowing her, she wanted to bring us something pretty. She’s always thinking of us; specifically me.
This made me stop and think; I’m sure, God feels the same way about us. Even when we believe we are going in the right direction, only to find that we are doing things that we really weren't supposed to do. He gets nervous. He gets scared for us; He is displeased with our choices, all the while being grateful that we have made improvements. Even though He is all seeing, all knowing, I see God like us as parents. He sees our heart and He knows the end results (unlike us). I truly believe when we leave small tokens of our love for Him, even in the midst of disobedience, He can see that the entire time we were thinking of Him. My daughter had no clue she would get in trouble and throughout her trip she probably had a plan the whole time. She wanted to bring something back to show her Mommy and Daddy. She saw the flowers, picked them, took care of them, kept them, even through her period of chastisement she preserved them and then left them for me without saying a word. She’s a good baby, through it all. I think, actually I know, God feels the same about us. In all we do, good and bad, He sees our hearts and our gifts; even through our disobedience. Being a parent is hard. I believe God uses our kids and times like these to show us just how much He goes through with us and how much He loves us. I’m so glad. It never hurts to get these reminders and encouragements. These past two weeks, I have needed them more than ever. He’s good like that.