I think one of the most common phrases I hear my fellow moms saying is, “I never thought I’d have to tell them THAT?!” I’ve echoed it many times myself. I did not anticipate having to have conversations like I did the other morning- “Boys, we don’t throw trains at people.” To which Josh responded, “What about monsters? Can we throw trains at monsters?” So then I actually hear the sentence coming out of my mouth, “Yes. We can throw trains at monsters.” Yeah, I never thought that was something I’d have to say. And then there are the conversations that make even less sense because one of you isn’t really paying attention- “ Josh, now you need to clear your place.” “What, Mommy? Clip my apes?” “Yes, Josh. After breakfast we always clip our apes.” Remember the game of telephone we played as kids? Sometimes being a mom feels a lot like that. I kept trying to figure out why Danny was insisting we play Duck, Duck, Goose with his head in the fridge, especially since I didn’t know he knew that game. He was much relieved when I figured out he was actually yelling Cup! Cup! Juice!
Sometimes it makes me wonder how God feels about communicating with His children. When I read through the many laws of the Old Testament I wonder if God thought, “Well, I never thought I’d have to tell them THAT!” When the Israelites made the golden calf while God was giving Moses the Ten Commandments was God thinking, “Am I not being clear enough or are you just not paying attention?” Sometimes I am just like my kids and only hear what I want to hear, especially if what I should be hearing is going to require me to do something I don’t want to do. I hope that through the course of my journey with The Lord I continue to learn to listen to His words in Scripture and also to obey the Spirit he’s given me that leads me to go beyond rote obedience and helps me to seek to be a woman after God’s own heart. I can’t wait until my children go beyond just obeying the words I say and begin to internalize the messages I want to teach them. Although most days I’d settle for some simple obedience!
And, of course, for a long time I’ll just be working on the basic communication skills. Like the other day when Josh yelled, “”Mommy, I see a spider! I need the bee whacker!” “The what, Josh?” “The BEE WHACKER!” “You mean the flyswatter?” “Yes.”