Hubby and I decided to celebrate Brown Sugar’s birthday at an indoor water park. We were all having fun, floating around in the lazy river, when Think Tank’s shout brought all good things to an end.
“Mom! I saw poop! There’s poop in the water!” My fellow germaphobe could barely squeeze the words out between huffs and puffs. And surely enough, with those words, the lifeguards started blowing the house down.
Well, not really. But we did yank our own kids from the water and they started the search for the mysterious “poop”—which in the end was nothing more than foam from the lifeguards’ floaty thingies; it turns brown and bobs in the water like…well, like poop, when it’s wet.
Kudos to the head lifeguard in the white shirt. Obviously the mistaken identification had been made before; she wouldn’t lose her head until she had cause and evidence. Unlike me. My kids and I shivered on the edge, daring the lukewarm water to lap against our toes, while everyone else continued frolicking about in what we considered poop-infested waters. Finally, the whistles blew the “all clear” (I think we were the only ones who’d hopped out anyway), and everything was “back to Norman,” as they say on Rugrats.
Just wet foam. Not…the other stuff.
Such is life, at least mine. It’s usually not the other stuff, is it, even though quite often I react like it is.
Well, I want to be like that lifeguard with the cool head and silver whistle. I want to listen with my whole heart, giving a matter my full attention, look for the evidence, and then respond accordingly. After all, that is what Proverbs 18:13 advises: “He who answers a matter before he hears it, It is folly and shame to him.” If you look up “folly and shame” in the dictionary you’ll see a picture of my children and me, standing beside the water, grossed out over some foam.
Folly—foolishness, rash behavior—comes in many forms. Carpenters say, “Measure twice; cut once.” Often, I save time and just jump in with the scissors, laying down the law on who I believe is the offender. The Maven is wailing about someone taking her controller? Then Think Tank must have taken it since he’s sitting beside her holding one. Actually, what really happened is that her “X” button was sticking so he took the controller so she could escape the spiders.
Oh, yes, it’s a tangled web. And I’m not the only shameful weaver. Tonight a certain little person locked out my iPad by changing the password and then promptly forgetting those four important digits. Before I heard one word of explanation I banned everybody from any form of electronics—Gameboys, iPods, telephones, televisions, pacemakers… Who needed to hear the matter when I knew the matter already? Yes, full of folly and shame.
And how did the little people react?
They followed their fearless leader, that’s how. Threatened with losing their gadgets they launched a Salem witch trial over here, with people yelling “Stone her!” I had to take my little hunting party and the presumed culprit aside and lead them all in a discussion about Jesus and the woman “caught…in the very act.” (John 8:4) How, despite that “evidence,” He says, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” (John 8:7) Convicted, we all prayed and asked each other for forgiveness. Yes, somebody locked me out of my iPad (that unknown, extra child who moved in with us and resides under the bed), but we can’t act without hearing the matter. And even once we hear the matter, we need to consider our own weaknesses, sins, and yes, poopy behavior, and answer.
Yes, it does get messy over here. A lot of yucky stuff happens in a household full of little people—spills, projectiles from every orifice, name calling, crying, finger pointing, bleeding, mucus, cooties, lying, denial, accusations, screams, tears, broken promises, broken limbs. And face it, sometimes there is real poop in the water, not just wet foam. Just a few months ago M&M surprised himself and Brown Sugar when he had an accident in the bathtub. Traumatized, it took him weeks to recover (“Where did that come from?” his face read). Yet Brown Sugar promptly forgave him and hopped back into the newly scrubbed tub.
My little bathing beauty showed me the attitude I need to have through it all: listening ears, coolness under pressure, forgiveness, gentleness, and reconciliation and recovery.
Clean it up, toss it out, drop the stones, take a breath…and get back in the water.
That was a fun and thoughtful read. Thanks for the reminders of how our poopy behavior can and must be continuously cleaned up, as often as needed, and we may begin again fresh and refreshed with forgiveness and love.
All the memories are alive once more.What a beautiful article.The little girl in the pool is so darling.
Awesome….I enjoyed every word! I felt like I was there with you guys..lol
By being a mom, you are there, splashing around with me :-). Thanks!