Brokenness

Our two year old has started saying something that really bothers me.  Of course, when a two year old says anything you have to ask yourself one question, "Where did he hear that?"  Two year olds have very few original thoughts that do not involve wanting food or not wanting to go to bed.  Most of what my two year old says he has heard someone in our family say or he has heard it on a television show.

So, recently, we had to take our dog to the vet because she has three infected nail beds on one of her feet and is in a lot of pain.  She was limping and Patrick looked at her and said, "Louise is broken.  Let's get new dog."  He is very verbal for his age, and just starting to experiment with his own thoughts, but still most of what he says is mimicked.

Now, I am pretty sure that no one in our family has suggested that we throw our family pet away for a "new one."  I have been giving a lot of thought to why he would say such a thing.  Then, this morning, we were looking out our bedroom window, marveling at the stunning mountain peaks all around and talking about all that God made.  Patrick glances over into our neighbor's yard which is a seriously cool kid's yard with a sport court, pool, green grass, and playground equipment to rival any park he has ever been to.  He immediately says, "I go play park."  I explained that the "park" belonged to our neighbors and maybe one day he would be invited over to play.  He stuck out his lip and said, "Our house broken.  I want new house."  Then, he finished off his mini tantrum by pointing his chubby finger and saying, "I want that house."

Uh oh.  Again, I am pretty sure no one in our family has been coveting our neighbor's house - though the yard is pretty sweet.  However, somewhere along the way our two year old has gotten the idea that when you are not happy with what you have or when something breaks, you demand something better - something "new."

I am not yet entirely sure how this mentality has been passed on to him, but I can assure you that now that I am aware of it, I will be intentionally making sure that he changes his way of thinking.  I will be paying much closer attention to what he is watching on television (did you know kid's shows are pretty full of demanding little whiny brats?) and I will be listening a lot closer to what comes out of all of our mouths (including mine).  Maybe one day my closet full of clothes wasn't good enough and I made the comment, in front of little ears, that I needed new ones.  In fact, I have never needed any clothes at all - wanted something new, yes, needed it....never.  Our little ones are listening to every single word out of our mouths - and I am convicted that I need to think a little deeper before opening mine.

Another thing that has come to mind as I have been contemplating this issue in our home is that maybe, just maybe, the slippery slope our nation is on right now came about in baby steps.  There is a Casting Crowns song called "Slow Fade" and one of the lines is, "families never crumble in a day."  Most of the moral issues in our society have come about as right and wrong slowly faded into gray.  We didn't just wake up one morning to a society in complete moral decay.  It has happened slowly and maybe it happened just like this.  Children who began to somehow believe that they were "entitled" to something that belonged to someone else.  Pregnant women who somehow found it acceptable to have an abortion rather than receive the blessing of a baby with Downs Syndrome or some other need that our society calls "imperfect."  They decided to try again for a "new one" instead of loving a "broken" one.

When Patrick asked for a new dog, I gently explained in two year old language that Louise has been with us for a long time and now she is getting old.  We will take care of her as long as she is alive because we love her.  I explained that we would take care of anyone else in our family even if they got "broken" or sick because we love each other.  Everyone is perfectly made in God's image and He never makes mistakes.  This is the lesson I desire to pass on to my children and I am thankful that Patrick made it clear that I need to be more careful about watching every word that comes out of my mouth and more intentional about diligently teaching him, and all of my children, these very simple truths.

God makes no mistakes - we are all precious in His sight.