The Punishment

Look back at your childhood? Can you remember a certain point in time where you pushed your mum too far and the fall out of discipline was so catastrophic that you can remember every detail of it. As an adult you can see why mum reacted the way she did, but then you couldn't see past the perceived injustice of it. My personal one was the day I called my mum right before she picked me up from school to see if Robin Wick could spend the night. My mum's reply was "No", which I took as, "I will conside it". Well to make a long story short I convinced Robin's mum that my mum said it was OK and so she left. When my mum arrived to pick me up and there was sweet Robin waiting to go home with us, let's just say I was in BIG trouble. The punishment for the crime was that I was not allowed to go to Holli Patton's Surprise Party that night, which of course I didn't know was happening because all the mum's kept it from us till after school to keep it a surprise. My mum took Robin, who wasn't spending the night, and I stayed home. Oh I was furious, it was the first time I ever wanted to throw something in anger, but being the goodie two shoes I was I could only muscle up the courage to throw a pillow at the door. I cried in hysterics for hours, my poor family having to deal with the noise. I don't think I will ever forget that night, or the lesson learnt.

Well the reason I am rambling on about this is because my dear sweet son Judah is having his experience. Having just had 2 weeks of school holidays, lets just say my kids have got to do SOOOOO.... many fun and cool things from taking the train to the city, going to the beach, Judah got to go to a kid's concert with a friend, having a family camp out, the list goes on and on. That's what school holidays are about, doing lots of fun family stuff. Well today is the last day of holidays so this morning we met our friends and went swimming at the pool (the coolest indoor pool I've ever seen!!! It even has a whirlpool), then we went to our friends for lunch, leftover birthday cake and a movie. Well when it was time to go, Judah threw the biggest fit, screaming and crying how he didn't want to go. BUT then he dropped the words that sealed his fate!!! Can you guess what they where? I bet you can!!! "IT'S NOT FAIR!!!" If children had any idea what those 3 words do to a mother's blood pressure they would never use them again!!!! So now my son is getting a lesson in what's fair and what's grace. He is currently bagging everything he owns in his room and carry it out to the shed. What's fair is ONE pair of pants, ONE shirt, ONE pillow, ONE blanket, ONE pair of socks and shoes and NO toys. One of the bags ripped on the way to the shed, so he is now learning that FAIR is cleaning up your own mess, all by yourself. Tonight he will be learning that FAIR is a bowl of rice for dinner. He is learning that FAIR is no TV, NO playing with friends, and NO super-fun activities. He is learning that FAIR is working for what you are given, so he has some chores to do around the house. I am praying that when we are finished with this little practical excercise that he will have learned that what is FAIR is not nearly as nice as what is GRACE. This evening when the emotions of all of it have calmed down we are having a long look at what the Bible has to say about selfishness and Greed, and then we are going to compare it to what the Bible has to say about Thankfulness.

I know some might think I'm being too harsh but I refuse to have children that grow up with this awful sense of entitlement that I see all around me. This attitude that I'm entitled to ... not because I've worked for it or have earnt it, but just because I am. The whole attitude is just plain old GREED. And isn't that whats really gotten the US into this terrible Economic Crisis that their in. An entire nation whose greed has motivated them to spend money they didn't have, and big banks greed that they would lend it to people at ridiculous amounts of interest knowing full well these people couldn't afford it. Doesn't all of this come from this disgusting sense of entitlement?!?!?!? What are we really entitled to? I think if we look long and hard at it, it's not much, and it's certainly not anywhere as much as we think we are!!!! As I write this it's a good reminder to me as well. There are so many things I think are "needs" that are just "wants". It really is a plague in the modern world... but I am on my soap box, so I will step down, and instead pray for my children, and myself and the nations of this world that we would have our eyes opened to the selfishness that is so prevelent in all of us, and that God would give us the wisdom to combat it!!! And I will pray that in 20 years, like me, Judah will see his mum really did do it because she loved him!!!