A Lesson Learned

When I was a young boy of about 9 or so, some friends and I were playing in the neighborhood as we often did.  An older couple down the street had a nice garden in their back yard and among the produce were some beautiful, bright red tomatoes.  They were so nice that I thought my mom would love them!  So I picked them out of the garden and brought them home to her.  But instead of her greeting me with a warm hug of thanks, she was understandably quite upset.

Mom informed me that I would be taking them right back to the home they came from!  What I had done as wrong.  "It was stealing," she reminded me.  And because the house was so close, she was able to stand in the door and watch to make sure I carried out the deed.  I delivered the goods back to the rightful owner, apologized and returned home - embarrassed and sorry I had done it.

Last night we went to a local store to pick up a few items as a family. Like all children, ours love to touch glass. Windows, doors, mirrors, it doesn't matter! If they can leave their mark they will! Lately I've been struggling to come up with ways to help our little ones become better listeners. After telling one of them a couple times in the store to stop touching a mirror, the temptation became too great and he gave in. Then the perfect idea came to me. 

I informed Jen of my plan, to which she responded with a big smile.  Then I calmly took him to a store employee and explained to the young woman that my son was having a tough time listening.  I asked if it would be ok for him to clean some glass.  She thought it was a great idea and proceeded to hand me a bottle of all natural (safe) glass cleaner and some paper towels. 

My son and I cleaned the mirror. When we were done I walked him back to where the young lady was and I asked him to walk to her and return the cleaner. He did it - slowly, but he did it!  He was well aware of his offense and when asked, he affirmed that he would not be touching mirrors when we go out.

God gives us instructions in His Word.  Sometimes it's not until after we commit an offense that we realize it was in fact an offense.  Like me with the tomatoes.  To be honest I don't remember whether or not I knew I was doing something wrong!  But it was a relevant illustration so I'll blog on :-).  Other times we are warned over and over not to do something and we defy orders anyway.  

In either case the hope is that there is a contrite heart following the act.  One of the promises I have learned to love comes from 1 John 1:9: "If we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 

My son didn't know how to clean glass.  He hadn't done it before.  And when it came time for him to carry out his penance, I didn't send him off to the clerk to retrieve the supplies and get the job done.  I WENT WITH him.  I showed him how to spray the bottle and wipe away the smudges and the streaks from the cleaner.  

When I blew up the world of my wife and kids with my addiction to alcohol, God knew I was sorry for all the hurt I had inflicted.  And once everything was out in the open with my family, that wasn't the end of the healing process.  It was just the beginning.  And boy did the truth hurt.  Confession and owning our "stuff" is hard work.  It was not easy for my son to go with me to get the cleaner from the young lady at the store.  But he didn't have to do it alone.

I didn't want to own the things I needed to because I thought it was going to be too hard.  I didn't want to face people and tell them how I had deceived them.  I didn't want to do it because I didn't want to see their responses.  I didn't want to feel the pain of realizing how I had hurt them.  I finally got to the point where I realized that if everyone else turned away from me, I had Jesus.  That's no small thing!  There was a point that was all I knew to be true and it was enough.

When we blow it with others and need to confess and do the right thing, GOD GOES WITH us!  Jesus made it very clear before he returned to His Father following the resurrection when he said, "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:20b).  In Joshua 1:5b God says "I will never leave you nor forsake you."  

The truth is I wasn't ever alone, even in my darkest hour.  I wasn't alone while I was living a lie, and I wasn't alone when I came clean.  And I'm not alone now as I press on in ministry, helping others find HOPE in the midst of their darkness.

So we can be assured that He continues to be with us.  Just like my mom watched over me as I walked those tomatoes back to their rightful owners, and I went with my son to fetch the cleaning supplies, God always has us in His sights and walks along side of us.  We can count on Him and lean on Him, even when we are embarrassed and the hurt seems too much to bear.

That's my lesson learned.