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I learned something today.<\/p>\nI learned something today.<\/p>\n
Actually, I re<\/em>learned it — this time as a grandma.<\/p>\n Don’t give gloves, no matter how cute they are, to children aged three and under. <\/strong><\/p>\n I’m sorry, Katelyn. They were so cute<\/em> — and cheap<\/em> — and I knew the girls would like the idea of wearing them, especially if they had gingerbread men and reindeer on them.<\/p>\n But I forgot about fingers.<\/strong> I forgot how exasperating it is to get just one<\/em> tiny finger into each matching glove finger. I forgot how distressing it is to have one floppy glove finger next to another that’s bulging with two or three fingers in it.<\/p>\n I forgot that after all the work of putting gloves onto little hands, the main fun for the gloves-wearers is pulling them off<\/em> again — and then asking (or demanding) to have them put back on <\/em>again.<\/p>\n I forgot how one little thing like a glove can sour a perfectly good walk in the sunshine. Katelyn had asked me — Nana, the fool who bought gloves for her daughters — to join them for a walk. After the rough start of looking for gloves, sharing gloves, and actually getting gloves on, the first half\u00a0of that walk was punctuated with one bit of grumbling after another.<\/p>\n “I want my glove to have the gingerbread man on the other<\/em> side of my hand.”<\/p>\n “I want my seat back.”<\/p>\n “I can’t get my glove back on.”<\/p>\n “I can’t <\/em>put it on.”<\/p>\n “I want my coat zipped.”<\/p>\n “Fingers in<\/em>!”<\/p>\n “Want.\u00a0my. <\/em>coat. zip.” (Little sister)<\/p>\n “Nana. put. guvs. on.”<\/p>\n “No. Nana. <\/em>on.”<\/p>\n “Coat off<\/em>.”<\/p>\n They were implacable. It became so ridiculous that Katelyn and I had to laugh<\/em>. Only the old sin nature — and a tiny pair of gingerbread man gloves — could inspire so many ways to be unhappy on such a beautiful day!<\/p>\n Then we had to wince<\/em>. This must be how we look to God.<\/strong> How many times do we take a perfectly good blessing and turn it into something to grumble and bicker about?<\/p>\n A house full of little ones — rewards from a loving heavenly Father — but we grumble about their messes, their needs, their childish foolishness.<\/p>\n A church full of people who love Jesus, but we grumble because they’re still sinners — just like us.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em>A hard-working husband, but we grumble because he’s no more perfect than we are.<\/p>\n Aging parents who have poured their lives into ours, but we grumble because they’ve made mistakes.<\/p>\n Houses, cars, clothes, health, schooling, friendships — all blessings that we can so quickly transform into a reason for discontent rather than gratitude.<\/p>\n I deserve nothing — nothing but eternal punishment — but God in His grace has chosen to save me and bless me. May I be content and grateful. <\/em>May He grant me the grace to live a humble life of gratitude, a life that glorifies Him<\/em>, the giver. And may He grant us the grace to teach our children to be truly grateful — even when they get gloves.<\/em><\/p>\n “Now there is great gain in\u00a0<\/a>godliness\u00a0<\/a>with contentment, for\u00a0<\/a>we brought nothing into the world, and<\/a> we cannot take anything out of the world. But\u00a0<\/a>if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content”<\/em> (1 Timothy 6:6-8, ESV).<\/p>\n (Photo from Shutterstock.com)<\/p>\n