Spilled Milk

It was a busy Wednesday morning, and I was trying to get my three young toddlers out the door and into the car for our Entrusted with a Child’s Heart Small Group, which would promptly start in 30 minutes.  I just set all three boys down for a quick bowl of cereal while I ran up 2 flights of stairs to grab my phone from the charger.  Within a few minutes, I noticed my youngest son, 2 1/2 year-old Micah had quietly and quickly followed me. Tugging on my pant leg, he said with a sad face, “Mommy, I spilled, but I tried to kween it up.” 

Deciding what to do in a split-second, by the grace of God, I sweetly held his hand and walked down the 2 flights of stairs, as I said, “It’s okay.”  Sure enough, his bowl had toppled over. The milk had spilled in a puddle on the table and was dripping to the floor.  I gently said, “It’s okay.  It’s just an accident and I still love you.” 

A sense of relief passed over his cute, chubby face as he grabbed some napkins to eagerly help me wipe up the mess.  Little did he know that he was actually making the mess worse.  I thanked God that I didn’t respond angrily to my son for his mistake.  I wanted him to learn in his heart that he will make more mistakes in the years to come and that he could come to me, right away, for help and encouragement rather than anger and judgment.

This was a difficult lesson for me to learn these last 16 years.  You see, Micah is my sixth and youngest child.  With three teenagers already in the house, I now see how I used to lash out in anger and frustration at my children in my early years as a mom, literally over “spilled milk”.  I always thought that “training up my children in the way they should go” meant doing it in a formal setting, like during family devotions or in Bible class during our homeschool days.  Now as an older and wiser mom, I realize that I want to train up my children with God’s commands in God’s way in our everyday life – not just when things go well, but when they go wrong, terribly wrong. Living out the truth and grace of the Gospel in our family has become a new goal for me this year in 2010.

As we were packing up to leave the house, I had a handful of markers in one hand when one of them dropped and the lid popped off.  Micah quickly ran to pick it up and hand it to me.  He looked up, smiled and said, “It’s okay.  It’s just an accident and I still love you.”  I fought back tears of gratitude to the Lord, thanking Him for his grace in teaching me how to have His Words on my heart and then being able to live it out for my children.

“Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6

(Scripture memory verse from Lesson 6 of Entrusted with a Child’s Heart)