Look What I Found (God's hand-written note to a mom)

Our guest spot on vulnerability will continue in the weeks to come; stay tuned! Thank you to Christy McCranie and Kelley Jimison for courageously sharing your stories. Please contact me if you have a story you'd be willing to share - no matter how small or big. All stories matter and you will touch someone who may need it most! Now .... on to the post.

Sometimes, I believe, we get notes straight from heaven. I got one this weekend.

We were cleaning my son's closet to make room for aquariums, cages and vivariums (help). You see, our son is now painstakingly caring for several fish, reptiles and mammals (in his closet), thanks to his science teacher who inspired him with numerous vertebrate species, all residing in our school's science lab. The science teaching is so dynamic that now we "HAVE to have a rat and a snake and a fish and a hamster, mom!" I retort, "Must we also house these animals, dear son? Couldn't we simply visit them --- perhaps in a zoo? Isn't that what zoos are for, son?"

My hard-working husband has made it clear we will not have any additional mouths to feed in this house, including a dog (despite our desperate pleas, as well as our 3-year old barking incessantly to try and convince him), so our son has innovatively compensated by using plastic rats, synthetic snakes, bait as fish, and a stuffed animal posing as a hamster in order to 'get' these 'animals.' I did not know he was building a zoo in his closet until I found piles of prior neatly sorted and organized items dumped all over my floors in various rooms. In order to 'cage' these wild, plastic animals who surely needed a home, our son scrounged up the largest tupperware bins he could find, dumping neatly organized Christmas decorations, pre-sorted toys, pantry items, and well-preserved, fragile family heirlooms everywhere.

Alas, I.WILL.NOT.LOSE.MY.TEMPER. for the sake of these blasted plastic pets. He even gathered his three-year old sister's plastic food (complete with plastic plates and plastic lettuce) to 'feed' the pets. If you're worried about the pets being uncomfortable, please don't. He has that covered, too. Plastic trees, lincoln logs, and playmobil accessories line the tupperware bins, along with ALL OF THE COTTON BALLS IN OUR HOUSE ("for cushion, mom") .... to mimic natural habitats. What more could a snake or rat want? Bottom line is this, these large tupperware bins housing rats, snakes, hamsters, and fish were EVERYWHERE and taking up a ton of space in his closet which was driving me nuts. I couldn't open his closet door and I had had enough.

Overwhelmed with the plethora of plastic, I began vigorously de-cluttering and then ... WA-LA. I spotted a toy I hadn't seen in a year or so, but it was remotely familiar looking. In fact, wasn't that a toy we had donated to Goodwill a while back? Hmmm ... how did it get in my son's closet? And then it dawned on me. Of course! He must have pulled it out of the donate pile when I wasn't looking and put it back in his closet. As I removed the toy from his shelf, (a bit miffed, admittedly), this note fell to the ground:

And I nearly fell to my knees.

It was as though God had whisked this card straight down to me from the gates of heaven.

Not only did I see straight to my son's heart -- at how deeply he loved this plastic toy (yes, more plastic-irony duly noted), but I also saw how deeply he cared for this toy and how deeply he wanted its new owner to care for it and love it the way he had. Quite simply, he wanted the new owner to treasure it the way he had. God grabbed hold of my heart through my son's handwriting. Here's what He said:

Dear Child of mine,

How are you doing? How well are you taking care of those you love? How well are you treasuring the people in your life? Yes, the closets may be clean. Yes, the dinner may be prepared. But how well is the loving going? Are you stuck on the anthills? Or are you climbing the mountains? Dear child, take care of them. Love them well; love them hard --- the way your son loves his toys. You are running out of time.

Love,

God

In our quest to raise 'good kids' who become productive adults, it's a complicated day-to-day string of scenarios in parenting, isn't it? Figuring out which anthills are anthills and which mountains are mountains? Are the towels-on-the-floor worth battling because picking them up teaches responsibility and the value of cleanliness and respect? Or is it really just not worth the nagging? And what about the lights? Oh, the lights? And the toilet seats and the toilet paper? Can we please just turn them off and close the seat and replace the rolls? We know one day they will be doing these things on their own, without our prompting, but it is the daily battles that make us crazy (and make us naggy)! Yet, they will be gone soon and the lights will be off and the toilet seats down. (Let's keep reminding ourselves).

In my son's adventure to house animals in his closet, I got a letter from God with my son's sweet handwriting. Thanks, son. You humble me daily. (And yes, you can keep that toy you were supposed to donate to Goodwill and my heart is different because of that toy and the note I found inside).

Now, let's go clean up those piles all over the floors before I simply vacuum them up with the Dyson.

Love to all and thanks for reading.

Lauri

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