WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES.
Yesterday was Simeon’s 5th birthday!
I stayed up until 1:30 the night before decorating the house for his party and making a gazillion cupcakes for his class.
Of course he woke up before 6:00 that morning full of excitement, and of course, I was EXHAUSTED!
However, the look of pure joy on his face as he saw all of his decorations and preparations for his big day made it all worth it! UNTIL he saw his cupcakes! He wanted “spider man cupcakes-red and blue with black spider webs. In the “mom world,” we all know that black frosting is from the devil! So, I decided to melt chocolate chips and pipe them on as the webs instead. They looked good and were definitely more delicious! BUT, this was NOT Simmy’s idea! He DIDN’T want chocolate chips on his cupcakes! (I just have to add that Simmy LOVES chocolate chips! He asks for a handful every day!)
So, for 10 minutes all I heard was the most obnoxious whining! Like not stopping, not relenting, even escalating whining! At 8am. On his birthday. Because his spider webs were made out of the very chocolate that he loves!
So, like any good mom, I gave him a lecture on gratitude and attitude and how to receive gifts with thankfulness and how he hurt my feelings with his complaining and on and on. Right in the middle of my lecture he yells out, “Mom! Mom! Stop talking! I have to tell you something!” I told him, “No, I’m not finished talking to you yet.” He insisted that he tell me so I said, “fine, what?”
Then the most profound thing came out of my 5 year old’s mouth!
He said, “Mom, God just punched me in the stomach! And then He pinched me!” (Woah!) I said, “Oh ya, and??” “And I’ll stop now.”
Sometimes the conviction of the Holy Spirit feels like a punch in the gut!
Simeon never again complained about his cupcakes, or anything for that matter. And at the end of the day, he told me how much he loved his spider web cupcakes!
As a mom, this is possibly the greatest victory in my mothering career! My prayer every day is that my kids would hear the voice of God and respond to His leading.
I had a lot of “wisdom” to share with Simmy that morning and I’m pretty sure that he didn’t hear any of it…But the second he felt the “punch in the gut” from the Lord, everything changed!
I am so confident that this whole parenting thing is just a partnership with the most Perfect Parent of all. He is so faithful to speak in a way that our kids will actually hear.
Today I’m thankful that Simeon knows what the conviction of the Holy Spirit feels like-may his gut be always sensitive and may I always trust that HE, the PERFECT PARENT, is doing this parenting thing right here with me!