If you want to really confuse your young children, try talking to them about their brain. I learned this lesson the other day when I was explaining to my three little ones why they needed to be careful about their baby brother’s head. I told them they needed to be gentle because he had a soft spot on the top of his head where his skull couldn’t protect his brain. His brain? They had a thousand questions about what a brain is and who has one. I thought I’d done a pretty good job explaining, but a few days later in the car there was a skirmish in the van between five year-old Josh and three year-old Danny. Josh yelled from the backseat “OUCH! Mommy, Danny pinched me! Can we get him a new brain? This one likes to be mean too much.” Oh that Danny. He can be a pretty rough character. And there are days when I wish it was as simple as buying him a new brain that doesn’t struggle with the temptation to hit and pinch when he’s frustrated. And even a new brain wouldn’t fix what ultimately is his heart problem.
But I can be a pretty rough character too. I struggle with my own temptations to gossip or judge or shut people out who have hurt me. I wish I could just get a fresh brain and a new heart instead of going through the difficult spiritual work of retraining this mind of mine to choose love and self-sacrifice. But God has called me to put off that old mindset that’s so easy for me and take on the mindset of Christ. That’s a spiritual discipline that Danny and I both just have to keep practicing.