As we were driving from our home yesterday, the kids told me that they wanted to visit our next door neighbors. They are a nice married couple to whom we introduced ourselves when they moved in and occasionally chat with when we see each other in our front yards, but we're not in any habit of visiting them. I was not sure if they would really appreciate a visit from us, or if this is an opportunity for neighborliness that I might not otherwise act on if it weren't for the prompting of my children. So, by way of stalling, I said if we were to visit them, we should bring them something. I thought maybe the kids could draw them some pictures or something along those lines. Quickly, one of the boys chimes up, "We can bring them apple crisp!" (I had just made a pan of apple crisp a few days prior.)
"Uh, well, we can't bring them that," I said, "There isn't enough left. Besides, apple crisp is my favorite!"
Not missing a beat, the boys tell me, "It's a better sacrifice if you give something you really like!"
"Yeah, it pleases God if you make a hard sacrifice!"
Well, apparently they do hear a few things I say to them. It is amazing to see how it comes back at me sometimes! I had been giving them this counsel some time ago because I had realized that we had been inadvertently teaching the kids that we only give away the things that we don't care about anymore or weren't useful to us anymore (as these are the first thing we generally seek to give away when we are trying to declutter.) Apple crisp is pretty treasured to me! Not only because it is my favorite dessert, but because it involves a fair amount of effort to make. My advice isn't supposed to work against me that way!
Or maybe it is...
What a wonderful lesson. I, too, have recently discovered that my children think giving away our stuff to poor people means giving away junk we don't want. Ooops. Need to work on that.
ReplyDeleteso did you make them apple crisp?
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