Lessons from my sons

So yesterday I had a wonderful day with my boys...if only I could just be home every day and soak up their love for life, the excitment they get when they discover something they can do, and how proud they are to show me. We spent the morning at home just playing, then went and ran a few errands. They were both ANGELS! I was quite shocked, but prayed a quick "thanks Jesus" each time we successfully left another store without a broken item, tantrum, escape, or just a discipline session. Our last stop was Target (surprise, surprise) and on our way out the parking lot we saw a couple standing on the side of the road with a "hungry, will work for..." sign.

***Let me take a time out and explain that a few weeks ago we encountered the same senario and Jonah was of course full of questions about this. He wondered why the man didn't just go to Target and get a snack like fruit snacks or cookies. I tried to explain that this man probably didn't have any money, which Jonah followed with "maybe he doesn't know where the bank is? Should we show him the way mom?". We had a very in depth discussion about why a person may not have food, money, a place to live, why mom and dad have to work, etc. He wanted to give the man something, and at the time I did not have anything to give***

So back to my story, Jonah saw the sign and said, "Hey mom, that man is hungry can we give him some food?" I had already turned the corner and thought for a minute about just going home, but Jonah persisted that we could give him our bananas we had just bought. So we made a full circle and I got out and gave the very thankful couple our bananas. Once back in the car, Jonah said "Good job mom! Hey, know what else we can do?" (this kind of a question always makes me a little nervous as I am never sure what he thinks of) "We could pray to Jesus so that man has a house and food!"

Wow! So, we pulled over and my 3 1/2 year old son prayed for the "banana man" and we had another discussion about being like Jesus. Jonah followed it up with "Jesus is happy right now isn't he mom? 'Cause we gave that man our bananas?" ***When the boys make a poor decision (disobeying, hurting each other, etc.. we talk about if the choice was one that would make Jesus happy or sad).

Thanks Jonah for helping me remember that loving Jesus is rarely comfortable. It means getting out of the car and stopping traffic to spread His love. Even if you are late for lunch/naps because you spent too much time looking at things you can't buy! I know we will encounter this situation again and maybe next time I can JUMP out of my comfort zone and pray with the poor souls who are standing, waiting for handouts. I encourage you all to look for the uncomfortable situations to love and share the love of Jesus!