I just had a very scary mommy moment!
Often times I spend the afternoon getting some work done in the office while my two kids watch tv and play in the living room.
Most days, this is no problem. They play and I can hear them and glance into the living room to check on them from time to time.
This day was different.
As I was sitting in the office getting some work done, I hear this big THUG upstairs. I listen for a second to see if anyone is crying. Usually that's how I can tell if all is well in the world...If you don't hear crying after a big THUG, things are probably ok. :)
I assumed my daughter was being her usual noisy self and getting into something she's not supposed to. :)
I quickly realized that the sounds I was hearing in the living room were from my daughter!!!
I walk out there, and she's sitting quietly on the couch watching tv.
Panic quickly flooded me as I realized Parker, my one year old, was NOT in the living room.
WHERE'S PARKER?!?!?! I not so quietly ask!
One glance at the stairs I realize what has happened.
That adventurous little boy had ventured passed his typical first step exploration and gone ALL THE WAY UP...and NOT JUST UP, but through the hall way and into his room!
Puzzles falling from his shelf in his room was the loud THUG I had heard!!
{his grandparents reading this are shaking their heads right now.....sorry grammy and grandma. ..my bad}
Relieved that he's ok, I scoop him up and start walking back down the stairs. It's then that I realize all the disaster he (somewhat) avoided. Besides the obvious dangers of a 1 yr old on the stairs, he had crawled past the bins of stuff sitting on the higher steps waiting to be taken up. Things like; my craft scissors, markers, paint pens, a bottle of craft paint. EEKK!!
Then at the top of the stairs I see many crayons that he stole from sissy's room and decided to snack on. Thankfully, he managed to avoid the open door to the very exposed bathroom, on his way to his room.
In my defense- He has NEVER ventured past the first step before. He usually avoids the stairs all together. Not to mention when we are upstairs..sissy's room is OFF limits due to the many small items that could be swallowed or lodged in places that would warrant a trip to the ER.
I guess it's time for me to get a good gate for the stairs.
Parker is NOT going to like having a gate on the stairs but as we can probably all agree it's the best thing for him to avoid some dreaded DANGER ZONES.
After my heart rate returned to normal speed, I got to thinking about sin and how it correlates to my messy mommy moment with the stairs.
Sin is a lot like those stairs. At first glance, they seem so harmless. To a baby, they seem exciting and adventurous. They seem like they will take us places we want to go, places we've never been.
We start up the path completely unaware of the dangers that await. The scissors that could stab us, the paint that could poison us..and there we are sitting on the edge of a step unaware that at any moment the wrong move could send us toppling to the bottom.
As I said before, Parker had never ventured passed the first step. He certainly didn't understand the dangers that awaited him.
When we allow sin into our lives, it seems so innocent. It can seem like no big deal. But eventually, we want to venture off that first step, we want more. Before we know it, we're at the top and we may not even know how we got so far from that first step.
Just as the stairs represent a DANGER ZONE for my one year old. So does sin represent DANGER for us.
Sin is always dangerous, no matter how "innocent" it may seem at the time. Despite any rationalizations we may make, or clever arguments we may concoct.
SIN LEADS TO DESTRUCTION.
Destruction of your family, of your marriage, of your relationships, your body, your mind and your eternity.
Putting a gate up for Parker is not to punish him. But to protect him from danger. To keep him from being injured.
The Word of GOD is our spiritual gate. If we allow it, it will keep us from harm, from 'accidentally falling off the steps into danger'.
The Bible talks a lot about sin.
Romans 6:23 says;
"For the wages of Sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord."
Here's the deal, We are all sinners, the Bible says so in Romans 3:10.
But we do not have to LIVE sin filled lives.
Romans 12:2 says
"Do not be conformed to the ways of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds."
So many people view the Bible as a list of rules and regulations intended to take away our fun. To put us in a pious little box of self-righteousness. But that's the opposite of what the Bible does for us.
I put up a gate on the stairs, because I love my son and don't want to see him injured. As his mom I am less concerned about his constant happiness as I am about him being protected.
God gives us guidelines to live by because he knows what is good for us.
He knows what we need and what will bring destruction to our lives.
He knows what will ruin our marriages, ruin our bodies, ruin our relationships, our finances, and ultimately separate us from his Holy presence and he doesn't want that for us.
God gives us guidelines because he is less concerned about us constantly fulfilling our human desires and more concerned about our spiritual condition. Because he desires to spend eternity with us. And trust me...once you get past your life on earth, you'll WANT to spend eternity with Him too!!
So even though I certainly do NOT earn mommy of the year award today for my messy stair encounter I can take a lesson from my crazy little one year old who avoided injury climbing up the treacherous stairs and embrace the Bible and the guidelines it provides for me.
If we follow Gods ways, it will lead to much better things than following our ways ever could.
I pray that my heart will always see Gods guidelines as a tool for my benefit even if it feels restrictive in a moment of human desire.
I will trust that GOD see's the bigger picture and knows best.
I hope you will too. :)
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