Traveling Blues with a Two

Oh the world of traveling blues two's!

By that I mean the world of traveling with a two year old. A couple of weeks ago I brought my niece home for a visit which means a five+ hour drive with an almost three year old. That's not an easy adventure! 

Before we'd gone ten miles down the road we'd sung 'The Wheels on the Bus' half a dozen times, gone through the ABC's a few times and sung some other songs. When I told her it was time to listen to music on the radio instead of singing she was not happy about that decision!

The next thing of note was when I called my parents to tell them I learned why parents drive minivans. So they can put the kiddos in the far back seat and pretend they didn't hear them. You can't do that in a car... 😏 That might not be completely fair but I'm telling you, if you've ever traveled with kids there's been times you wish you couldn't hear them!

Another call to my parents was placed to complain about the word why. Only people that have spent a lot of time with young children can truly understand how much you can hate the word 'why'. Seriously. Oh my goodness. Why? I'll tell you why. To drive me crazy when you constantly ask the question why! That's why child! 

At one point we stopped at McDonald's for dinner. It was crazy to me that we had to actually stop, I never stop for more then a few minutes when I'm on a long drive! However there was no way that I was giving food to a two year old in the car you guys. I'm not cleaning up that mess!

When I was a kid there was the old joke. To sum it up God invented fruits and Satan invented McDonald's. God invented the salad and Satan invented 'would you like fries with that?' And so on and so forth. But during this trip I concluded that God invented fries so when you get back on the road and the endless 'why' questions start again you can say 'here, eat your fries' and amazingly the 'why' questions are brought to a halt! At least until the fries are gone.

Then it becomes time for the toy. And for some unknown reason to parents everywhere McDonald's thought it would be a good idea on this particular day not to give out a regular toy but to give pieces of card stock paper, a colored pencil and stickers. Great. Except I spent the next three days pulling stickers off her blanket, the paper went everywhere and she lost the pencil almost immediately. Then came the inevitable question. 

'Auntie Kitty, could you write on my card?'

'No honey, I can't, I'm driving.'

'Why can't you write on it?'

'Because I'm driving.'

'Why?'

Finally I just said that it was against the law to write on things while I was driving because it was dangerous and then I found something else to distract her with. Thank goodness.

I remember when I was a kid one of my favorite parts of road trips was driving through cities at night. It was always so beautiful to see the city lights at night. As we came into the city I told my niece, 'Look out the window'. Hearing her gasp of delight over something that still amazes me definitely brought a smile to my face and made up for so much frustration of endless why questions.

Of course no road trip is without speed bumps and one of mine was when we stopped at a gas station that I know has a nice little store. My plan was to grab a cup of coffee, and have my niece change into her pajamas so she could have bed time in the car. Instead the gas station's septic system had malfunctioned, their bathrooms were closed and we had to make the trek to the fast food place next door. It was close enough to walk but the poor kid was so tired she didn't want to walk, she wanted to be carried. That made that trip a little more exhausting for the already exhausted kiddo and this auntie!

However we made it back to the car and once I had her in her seat I gave her the bottle I'd been saving. Nine minutes later and peaceful silence ensued as she fell asleep.

So there it is. A few of the adventure of Traveling Blues with a Two from a very weary auntie. 

I hope it made you laugh as much as it had my parents laughing at me with all my phone calls!

Like a Child

Faith like a child.

Wonder like a child.

From the mouths of babes. Because seriously, no one says it like a child!

And the list goes on. There's so many connections to children. Things that we long for after we become adults. Even things that God calls us to have- faith like a child, for instance. But what does that mean? What is it about children that we need to emulate?

Faith. Children don't believe everything they're told. But once they do they believe it with their whole heart. Nothing's going to shake their faith.

Wonder. As adults we tend to get caught up with our problems or our stresses or whatever else and we don't really see the beauty and the wonder around us. Children do. They really see what they're looking at. The extraordinary in the ordinary. And it feels them with wonder. That's truly a gift from God.

Boldness. Children have an amazing ability to put the truth into simple terms. They say what they're thinking and although that's not always a good thing it's definitely a humorous thing! And often they'll simplify what we see as complicated. Instead of worrying about offending someone they speak the truth in simple, bold terms, in a way that we adults would never dream of doing.

And... the curiosity. Why is often my least favorite question when I'm around my nieces, nephews and other children. They have an amazing tendency to keep asking 'why' with insatiable curiosity. It often drive me crazy. But maybe that curiosity is what leads them to have the faith they do. They don't stop searching for answers.

Maybe, just maybe, we should do a lot more of asking why? And then take some time to stop and listen to the answers.

See children seem to ask why and then they just keep asking. I'm not even sure they hear the answers before the next 'why?' is out of their mouths. The benefit of maturity is that we (supposedly) have more patience. So when we ask God why we can't just keep asking, we need to listen to what He says.

Then we need to believe Him with that same faith of a child.

Maybe that childlike curiosity will lead to us having the faith of child so we can look at the world with the wonder of a child in order to speak to others with the boldness of a child.

Who Do You Work For?

Have you ever had a difficult boss? A hard job? A frustrating co-worker? Those days when you don't want to get out of bed or you dread the alarm because you know it means another day of a job you hate? How do you deal with it? The exhaustion, the frustration, the irritation that feels like it's going to strangle you if you don't find an outlet for it?

You remember who you work for.

Colossians 3:23-24
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."

I know how it is to be in those hard situations. A difficult boss, been there. Hard job, worked it. Frustrating co-worker, yep, experienced that. Those days you don't want to get out of bed, oh yeah, I've had those and dreading the alarm and the beginning of the day it signals, yep definitely done that.

Sometimes I deal with these situations better then other days. On a good day I pray, asking God to use me for His glory no matter how hard the situation is. I ask Him to put His smile on my face because I don't have my own. I ask for His strength to keep my mouth shut because I have none of my own. I ask for His energy because I'm at the end of my rope.

On a bad day I focus on myself. On how difficult my life is, on how frustrating the situation is, on my problems and irritation and whatever else it is. I wallow in self-pity because my focus is on myself. I loose my perspective because I focus on man. Myself, of course, but also the people in my life.

I forget who's really in charge.

If I were to paraphrase Colossians 3:23-24 it would go something like this- In everything you do work as hard as you can for it because you're working for God, not for men and the Lord will give you an inheritance. It's the Lord that you are serving.

That last sentence might be my favorite. It's the Lord that you are serving.

When my focus is on myself I forget that. I forget that it's not about the difficult boss or frustrating co-worker or the hard job. None of that matters because it's the Lord that you are serving. It's the Lord that I am serving. I'm not working for men. I'm working for the Lord.

So no matter how hard things get or how much I don't want to get out of bed that's what I always need to keep forefront in my mind. It's not about the situation or the people. It's about who I work for. It's the Lord that you and I are serving.

The Motives of the Heart

A while back I was chatting with some amazing friends of mine. One of them is a mom of 4 kiddos and so sometimes while she's talking she gets interrupted. In this case as she was sending an audio message her youngest walked in and I could hear her crying in the background. Although I couldn't understand what the little girl was so upset about her mom had an amazing reply.

"You can't do a nice thing with meanness in your heart. When you do a nice thing you need to keep a smile on your face and do it with a good attitude."

Wow! That was the conviction I needed right at that moment! See I wasn't at home chatting with my friends I was at my brother's house. He's been recovering from knee surgery and I was there helping take care of him and my nieces and nephew. Due to his surgery he's out of work for a while and so my sister-in-law (who had been a stay-at-home mom) returned to work. In that first few weeks after his procedure they needed a lot of help so my mom and I, along with others, tried to provide it- taking him to doctor's appointments, caring for the kids, getting the oldest kiddo back and forth from school, etc.

Taking care of kids is always exhausting. Taking care of kids that aren't your own and taking care of a sibling who's recovering from a big surgery? Not any easier. So while I'd been talking to my friends I'd been sharing my exhaustion, the things that I was stressed about and some of the issues that I'd been dealing with while at my brother's.

There was nothing wrong with talking to my friends about these things. The problem was that I was edging dangerously close to a bad attitude. I knew from that moment of conviction that my heart needed to be in the right place.

Galatians 1:10
"Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ."

Philippians 2:3, 4
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others."

Matthew 6:1
"Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven."

Or maybe this is the one that sums it up best of all. 1 Timothy 1:5
"The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith."

Sometimes we need to share our burdens with others. There is nothing wrong with that. But be it difficult times or frustrating people we always need to make sure that our motives are pure. God judges the heart. When He looks into yours what does He see? Are you doing good deeds on the outside but with meanness in your heart on the inside? Or does the smile on your face match the purity on the inside?