Kids are Jerks

The other night Daniel, the kids, and I were at our bi-weekly Bible study. There were our 3 kids, plus 4 others - in other words, chaos. The adults were discussing sacrifice and trying to have a serious Bible study, but the kids found lots of fun in running around the room screaming and laughing. It got to the point that no adults could fully concentrate or even hear each other.

All of a sudden, everyone started singing the song, "Jesus Love the Little Children." I just sat there and listened, not really knowing what was going on. Later I asked Daniel why everyone did that. He said, "Because kids are jerks." He didn't really mean that, of course, but it got the point across anyway. Apparently, the song was a reminder that God loves them all the time - no matter how much they interrupt our studying and worship of Him.

You know, both of these points are very, very true. God does love each and every kid, no matter what they do. And, kids are jerks. I deal more often with the second truth in my day-to-day life, however, so that's what I will blog about today.

I know every parent must have an endless supply of "kids are jerks" stories. I mean, like two days ago when I was trying to straighten up the house, do my homework, and cook lunch all at the same time, and I heard water running. I run towards the bathroom and find a dismantled potty seat, an open doll armoire, and a very wet Avery washing doll hangers in his potty bucket. The sink, the floor, the potty, and the Avery were all covered in soap bubbles as well.

Or the night before that, when I go into the bathroom (are you seeing a pattern here?) and find that Abby has used one of Avery's white t-shirts to dry her not-quite-completely-clean marker covered hands. Now Avery has a nice white and red t-shirt instead. Why do they even make markers that are not washable??

Anyway, the point is, kids are jerks. I know, I said that already - but really, kids are jerks. But don't we just love them anyway? Don't we just forget about the bad thing they did ten minutes ago, go clean the mess they're making right now, and then go clean the messes that the other two made while we were cleaning that first mess?

And if you really think about it, its not just kids that are jerks. Its all people. Its even animals. There are some really, really jerky cats in my neighborhood. Just ask the one that pooped in my driveway - or the one that pooped on my doormat. Flaming bags of dog poop would be lost on us.

So think about how you forgive your kids when they're jerks the next time an adult is a jerk. If God can do it, maybe we can try too. I've got to close this post now - Ethan is in the kitchen pulling down the sweaters I have hanging up to dry. What a jerk.....


p.s. I don't really think that my kids are jerks, and Daniel doesn't really think anyone's kids are jerks. That was just for emphasis.