Out of the Mouths of Babes

Sometimes finding the “treasure” in my day is difficult; like God is speaking in something softer than a whisper; other times, the nuggets of truth are so bold that it seems the Lord is yelling in my ear. Today over our lunch hour, God did a bit of “holy hollering” as He spoke clearly through the mouths of my own children. Don’t get the wrong impression- our mealtimes are not normally so poignant. Mealtime is often the most out of control time of day in my opinion. I have a “family meal ideal” in my head and strive for it out of sheer perseverance. We do attempt to sit down together for at least one meal a day, and we do aim to connect and build relationships during that set-aside time; but truth be told, our dinner times aren’t exactly a scene out of a Hallmark movie. Though connection and camaraderie is the unstated goal, our moments around the family table tend to be a crying, spilling, clamoring, elbowing, interrupting, burping kind of event that makes me sigh and say things to my husband like, “We’ll never be able to eat out in public again.” Or “No one’s going to ever ask the girls out on a SECOND date,” or “Why do I spend money on napkins when shirt sleeves are the mouth wipe of choice?”

That being said, today’s Sunday dinner was a rare “jewel in the rough.” The kids are all studying creation in their Sunday school classes this month. Their focus is how they can use creation to learn more about and draw closer to the Creator. So, I decided to spark a little discussion by putting an object from nature on each child’s dinner plate. As we sat down, I challenged each child to answer this simple question: “What does the object on your plate teach you about God?” I assured them that there were no RIGHT answers and then I waited.

Luke picked up the small leaf just beginning to change colors from green to red. “This leaf reminds me that God will never leaf me alone!” my wordsmith said with a grin. “Oh, and that He changes us, like this leaf is changing color.”

Lizzy rubbed the smooth seashell between her fingers and said quite simply, “This shell is like God’s arms that cover me to keep me safe.”

“So God gave the clam a shell to hide beneath and He covers you the same way?” I asked.

“Yep,” Liz replied. “That’s how He works; He’s like… our refuge, ya know?”

“Well,” my verbose five year old began as she held up a small red flower I’d plucked from the potted plant on my doorstep, “when these petals are closed, it’s like us when we don’t know God, but when they are open… (She opened up the flower to show its bright red color) it’s like….like… beautiful! Like when we know God!”

“So if we open up our life to God He makes us beautiful?” Rob summarized.

“YES!” Hannah declared. “That’s right, Dad!”

“And if you stay closed to God, you don’t ever discover how beautiful you can be…” I mused aloud, enjoying the metaphor.

“I was thinking that the red color reminds me of Jesus’ blood,” Lizzy said as she studied the scarlet petals.

“Yeah, that’s what I mean…because He died on the cross, His blood made us BEAUTIFUL!” Hannah replied, refusing to give up the beauty theme (we’d expect nothing less from a Disney-Princess wanna-be).

“What about Dad’s?” I asked as everyone eyed the remains of a wilted brown geranium.

“This reminds me that we need to stay connected to Jesus if we want to live,” Rob stated simply.

“Like that story… Jesus is the vine, we are the branches,” someone added

“I’ve got to admit,” I added, “That dead flower is from the plant out front that I forgot to water this week.”

“So if I don’t soak up the water of God’s word, I’m going to look like this, too…” Rob mentioned.

“I don’t want to shrivel up!” one of the kids mumbled.

Then the ham balls were growing cold, the baby was rubbing mashed bananas in her hair and all over her face as she rubbed her eyes in preparation for a nap, and our toddler was singing the tractor song over the conversation Rob was leading about “living water.” But for a brief moment, I marveled at the treasure we’d unearthed together and thanked God that today I didn’t even have to dig in the diaper pail to find it!

Today’s Treasure: “I praise you Father. You are Lord of heaen and earth. You have hidden these things from the wise and educated. But you have shown them to little children.” Luke 10:21