A Lesson From Jacob

A couple of weeks ago Elijah and I were working on his science project. We were doing a lot of measuring, so I had been using the tape measure quite a bit. Jacob was obviously fascinated with this brightly colored box that, when you pushed a button, caused this long skinny piece of metal to come flying back at you. So while Elijah and I were putting the finishing touches on his Nobel Prize winning project, Jacob decided to try his hand at the tape measure.

Five minutes into HIS project, I hear the tape measure quickly retract. The next thing I hear is Jacob exclaiming, “OH GREAT! Now I have to go to time out!” And he quickly stood up and stomped off to his customary place of punishment. As he was going to the place of shame, I walked over and found that the tape measure had broken off and gone back inside its casing. It wasn’t his fault as this old tape measure has been in my possession for almost twenty years, and it was worn and frayed.

So I went to go rescue my son and tell him that it wasn’t his fault.

Jacob did something he thought was wrong, and he instantly punished himself. Robin and I joked about how well we have him trained – you screw up, you go to timeout. Three cheers for rigid, drill sergeant parenting!

But I’ve also thought about the fact that I don’t want ANY of my boys to feel that their Daddy’s only job is to punish them. I’ve told all three of them NUMEROUS times, “I don’t like it when y’all get in trouble. It’s no fun spanking your kids.” (okay...maybe just a tiny bit).

But then I’ve also thought about how indicative this is of the relationship God and I have had for most of my life. I screw up, and I instantly start beating myself up or thinking of some way to do some sort of penance to compensate for the way I’ve disappointed Him. It’s a horribly legalistic way to think about it, but deep in the recesses of my mind I still feel like I have to be GOOD ENOUGH…that I have to do enough right stuff in order to earn the love of my Heavenly father.

So I try, with all my being, to let Elijah, Noah and Jacob know that there is nothing they could ever do to make me stop loving them.

Ironically, God has been trying to have that conversation with you and I for years.