Turning Seven!

My smallest boy is turning seven this Father’s Day.  We decided to have a few friends over and go to the park.  You would think that was a normal and even nice thing for a mother to do, wouldn’t you?  So we are in the car with friends filling the seats and he opens a gift his friend gave him.  He received a nice tape measure and a pair of working gloves.  After looking at the generous gift he replied, “I like the tape measure, but I don’t like the gloves.”  Which I immediately retorted, “Caleb Joshua Reginato (he knew he was in trouble by the use of the middle name), “you tell your friend thank you.”  And I proceeded to tell the six year old sitting next to him that, in fact, Caleb loved the gloves and would use them all the time. To which the little girl just stared at me with a blank face. 

We went to the park and had a lovely time, but when we got back home (the friends still with us), Caleb decided to ask the neighbor boy over to play games and have cake.  After the games were over, they all retired to Caleb’s room to play house.  They all were trying to fit into the closet ( I think they were using it for a bunk bed with one child on the floor of the closet and two others on the top shelf) when Caleb told his neighbor friend to leave his room because he wanted to play alone with his other friends.  I only found out about this because the little guy walked right past me in the kitchen, looking like he might cry.  So I marched into the closet and demanded to know what happened.  I was told the sad story and immediately had Caleb go apologize to his friend, which he did.

After all the kids went home, I asked Caleb if he had a good time at his party.  He said, “No, not really.” 

Isn’t that exactly how we are? 

We half heartedly accept gifts from God.

We are thankless for the wrapped treasures he places in our hands.

We love self more than others.

And it causes us to lose our joy.

What I get to share with my almost seven year old is that God’s mercy is new every morning.  That we get a do-over and we can start fresh by the power of His love. 

We can begin tomorrow with a renewed awe of the gifts we have been lavishly given.

We can excitedly unwrap even the smallest, precious treasures He gently places in our hands.

We can mend relationships and ask for forgiveness. And love others more than ourselves!

We can find our joy!

I asked my son before bedtime tonight if he could have done anything differently today.  He said, “I could have not been rude to my friend.”

Good job, son.

 Maybe seven won’t be so bad after all!