Combine cold weather, no school, lots of energy, cabin fever, all building up in a seven-year-old Texas boy, and you just might get a combination that becomes explosive. Such was the combination on our first round of winter weather.
Bouncing through the game room with excessive energy, my son heard my voice repeatedly say, "calm down, don't throw that, find something to do." His energized ears became deaf to my commands. Nothing he was doing was very harmful...just tossing a bean bag type pillow up and down in the air. I was repeating what all mothers say, "don't throw things in the house, you might break something."
Strolling downstairs to fix dinner I heard the voice. "Mom I am soooooooooo sorry. I didn't mean to do it!"
What was "IT"?
The small, "Cars" bean bag pillow went sailing through the air. It should have harmlessly made it across the stairs opening to land softly on the ground, had it not first clipped the edge of my Scentsy, melted wax-filled dish. Who knew such little wax could hit so many surfaces?
I came up the stairs. To my horror, there were four walls dotted with red wax, carpet dotted with wax, the trim of a picture covered with wax, the frame around a mirror turned red and both stair handrails coated with red wax!
It was one of those times where you breathe in very slowly, as not to implode or explode.
My "can-make-lemonade-out-of-lemons" son said, "I think I like the mirror better that way! I will help clean it up."
Then started the lesson for both of us. He began to say over and over and over again, "Mom, it was
just an accident." I began saying over and over again, "this was disobedience."
As we started attacking the cleanup, I continued to teach my son and myself. There are reasons for obedience that we can't see. An accident isn't an accident when you were told NOT to do something. He asked when things would be "back to normal"? To be truthful, the reality is that things don't go back to "normal" after our sin... there are always consequences for our sins. We might remove the evidence of the sin and be forgiven for it, but the scars of the sin remain.
As my older son and I literally ironed the wax from the wall, I went back in time. The Lord reminded me that this lesson is one that my youngest son and I will continue to have to learn. It began in the Garden of Eden.
Gen. 3
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.
How many times do I excuse my own sin? How often do I justify my own sin? How many times do I call something by another name, instead of admitting it is sin?
We cleaned most of the wax off the walls... and carpet... and mirror... and picture frame... and hand railings. There is still some in a corner, the hard to reach place that shows evidence of disobedience. I think I will leave it for awhile...it is right beside my mirror that says "Courage. Jesus died for my sins". His blood did it all. It takes courage to repent and allow His blood to cleanse me of my sins. I did nothing. It is His gift.
Pretty good lesson for this time of the year. This past year has shown me my heart. Not all of it has been good....and I too, have made excuses for my sin.
(cleaning hint - you iron the wax off the wall with an iron and paper bag over the wax...you freeze the wax on the carpet and then iron it off the carpet as well - the paper bag lifts the wax right off!... first time for this Mom... and hopefully the ONLY time!)
