Life lessons

Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a sitcom, like the Brady Bunch, or Full House, or the Cosby Show.  In a neat and tidy 23 minutes, Marsha or DJ or Vanessa would learn some valuable life lesson, usually with no long term consquences. Don't smoke. Tell the truth. Don't throw balls in the house.  In my version, however, nothing gets completed in 23 minutes. Getting everyone to sit down for breakfast takes WAY more time than that, so for an issue to rise, develop, ferment, resolve, and be recorded in our wee brains, a bit more time can be expected.

My nine year old son had one of those two-part 'to be continued' episode's worth of life lessons this past week. Friday he came home devestated to report that his treasured bionicle creation had been stolen from his school locker. A side note - I'm still not sure WHAT a bionicle is. It's some sort of robot like lego creature, and apparently they have different versions, with special extra parts each time. It's a mystery to me.  Anyway, this happened to be one he had designed himself, using parts of various bionicle kits, which meant not only was it a work of art in my son's eyes, it was the key to being able to reproduce several bionicles ever again.  So here's what we learn in the first episode:

Life lesson #1 - not everyone plays by, knows the importance of, acknowledges, cares about or even recognizes the existence of the rules. My first born orderly son couldn't believe someone would take something that doesn't belong to them. He took the concept of someone breaking the rules just as personally as the theft itself.

Life lesson #2 - every choice you make, no matter how small, has a consequence. My boy's cry "I wish I could take back the last 24 hours. I should NEVER have brought in my toy!" echoes many similar cries of my own. If I could just have held my tongue, taken a different road, not eaten that last bite, not overslept those 10 minutes.

Life lesson #3 - a good empathetic friend can accelerate the healing process. My son spoke to his best bud  on the phone shortly after coming home from school. This little guy knew the bionicle in question PERSONALLY ("Aw man, that was my favorite one!") and he also had experienced having something stolen. After a brief goofy conversation, my eldest hung up the phone with a half-grin, and said, "I'm sure glad he really cares about me."

He and I prayed it out - my son forgave the person who committed the heinous act and asked God to help the person confess what they did, and bring his precious toy back. Cue the 'To Be Continued...' sign.

My son finally got the courage up to tell his teacher what had happened, and received information that the toy had been located and would be returned today. Cue episode 2.

So, what I found at the bus stop today, was a dejected angry little man, who reported that precisely only 40% of the pieces of the toy had been returned, and that his teacher said there is a good chance he might not ever get the other pieces back. Now, this is not the neat and tidy tie-it-in-a-bow ending that I was looking for. I had thought earlier, what an amazing moment for God to build my son's faith by answering his prayers with the location of his toy. Is half a toy (or 40%) just as amazing? Which leads me to...

Life lesson #4 - God just isn't interested in neat and tidy, predictable, syrupy sweet endings. Instead, it seems He's motivated by character development and all that stuff you really don't have time for in a 23 minute long sitcom (even a two-parter) and usually find in a very long, very satisfying novel.  Sometimes it's true, He does give us moments when everything is tied together neatly; however, my experience has been that those are the exceptions to the rule. In this case, it seems that my Father was giving my son an opportunity to exercise and stretch those faith muscles he already had developed in his first 9 years of life. He whispers questions in my boy's ear, "Can you still be kind and forgiving to this child of mine, even when they've wronged you and haven't made it right? Can you be content and feel joy over that which was returned rather than sulk over that which wasn't? How are you going to let this shape you?" These whispers invade my soul as well, because, let's face it, I'm a first born, rule-adoring, child myself, who needs to learn these life lessons right alongside my babies.

Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21