Sunglasses

I think I may have to change the title of this blog!  Not only have I been so sick with pregnancy that I kind of just dropped it, I have shifted from being a ranting mom to being a preachy preacher.  Huh.

I guess I learn so much from my kids that I am having trouble feeling like I have no where to share it.  Some of my insights feel really colloquial or folksy, but I want to put them down somewhere or I'll forget them.  So without further adieu, here's the latest...

Every single day for 3 weeks now, I've been taking Eli (my five year old) to school.  He just started kindergarten.  I am too "new mom" with him and I insist he ride in the car to and from school, afraid he will get picked on or pick up bad things on the bus.  Plus it's just more time with me.  My husband works nights so he is always in bed when I do the drop off run, which means 15 month old Emmy and three year old Dora are also in the car with me.  Every single morning the sun shines directly in our faces.

I am old enough to put on sunglasses and put down the visor.  Eli sits in the back so he's okay.  Dora is right in the line of sun and she asks for my extra pair of sunglasses.  Every day I have said, "Okay, sure, but make sure you don't touch the lenses."  I figure if I tell her not to, it will happen somewhat less, but let's get real here.  I know she's gonna touch the lenses, and I have an end game as well.  I will clean them off.  :-) The more cleaning, the more scratches, the sooner I have to toss this pair and get new ones.  So I say it over and over.

After a week and a half, her tiny voice says, "Mom, I'm so sorry.  I didn't mean to, but I touched the lenses."  Then when I didn't say anything (distracted) she said, "I can still wear them, Momma?"

I obviously reassured her it was okay and I could fix it, but I reiterated that she should try not to do it.  It made me think.  

Our Heavenly Father is always telling us not to touch the lenses.  It takes many forms.  Every single morning though, it's there, if we are reading our scriptures, the Ensign, etc., like we're supposed to.  If we are paying attention to his counsel, and listening to the Spirit's promptings, we're being reminded.  Don't touch the lenses.  Sometimes that counsel takes the form of, "Be kind to your children." (or "Love One Another.")  Sometimes it's "Serve One Another" or "Repent" or any number of other scripture messages.  I mean, how many times do you read the same exact counsel in the Book of Mormon?  You could probably boil the Book of Mormon in a pot for an hour and end up with just a handful of phrases.  If we'd only follow those, we'd keep that pesky sun out of our eyes and never ruin our sunglasses.

And yet... Our Heavenly Father knows we will touch the lenses.  Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but sometime we are bound to do it. After all, we are only three.  Our coordination is not so good.  Our focus is not so great.  We forget.  There are any number of reasons why it happens but the result is the same.

He reminds us not to so we will touch them less but when we've touched the lenses, he has a protocol in place to clean them off.  It's called repentance.  And he's not angry.  He's not upset.  He's not even disappointed I think.  He just wants us to avail ourselves of His prepared solution, His perfect, free, wonderful solution.  The glasses won't end up scratched, they won't end up being discarded because unlike this analogy, his solution is eternal.  It's perfect.  And it can be repeated indefinitely.  Until we develop the maturity, the confidence, the dexterity to perfect ourselves in that one area.  And move to another.

I am so grateful for the insight I can receive into the love our Heavenly parents have for us as a result of the love I have for my tiny earthly charges (I mean my kids, in case that's too obtuse).  I am so grateful for a Heavenly Father who loves me, even when I touch the lenses after being repeatedly and consistently reminded.  I pray that one day I can stop but for now, I just keep wiping away whenever I do.  And I know that's okay with Him.