Sitting under the warm sun watching my daughters play in the water table I smile to myself. Many days over the summer I have felt more like a referee than a parent. “Don’t take your sister’s toy. Stop splashing your sister in the face. Don’t throw all the pea gravel out of the water table. We have two of those toys so you each can have one…you don’t need two.” Okay, so you catch my drift.
I smile because I picture sitting there in that sun-faded green chair wearing black and white stripes with a whistle in my mouth. I smile because I know this is the season of toddlerhood. However, I see a lesson in it.
Sharing. Sharing is a challenging concept. One we try to teach our kids. One that keeps rising up no matter if they are 1 or 11. And while we continue to guide our children we also have to remind ourselves.
Sharing is against our flesh bodies. Sharing is challenging even for adults. We struggle to share our time, money, talents. We fight and hold on. We want to keep the little time we have for “the me” things. Money for the latest and greatest. Talents for making more money. It’s a cycle. A cycle of selfishness and holding on.
So while I am teaching my children I also want to learn. To be a student of Christ. Learn to be humble and let go. Let go and give. Share with others. Giving is the heart of God. Open hands are how Jesus lived.
My children will see me mess up. They will see me fail to share. Yet I think the lesson is more in seeing me acknowledge my mistake and asking for forgiveness. Then trying again. Letting go, opening hands, and sharing.
I want my children to see me opening my heart and hands to Jesus even after I have messed up. They will learn far greater things from Him than me.
Colossians 3:12-15 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. ESV
1 Peter 5:6 So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. NLT
Luke 6:38 Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.” NLT
