The other day, I had to run some errands and my 7 year old asked if he could come along. I told him that I would love his company and off we went! Our first stop was at the dollar store. As we were walking in, I noticed that Joe was clutching something tightly in his fist. When I asked him about it, he showed me 2 quarters that he had taken from his bank at home. He knew that the dollar store was going to be one of our stops that day, and he remembered seeing some of those candy machines there that you put coins in and turn the dial to get your treat. Every little kid has to get candy from one of those old machines at least once in their life, right?
After we finished paying for all of our items, Joe took his time to examine the contents of each machine so that he would get just the right candy. His first quarter he spent on a gumball. I was so surprised and delighted when he turned and handed it to me and said, “I bought this for Timmy, because I know how much he loves gumballs! Can you keep it safe for him?”
Timmy is my youngest son whom Joe has a love/hate relationship with at the moment. I believe that they are truly the best of friends. Joe is 7 years old and Timmy is 5 years old. All of their other brothers are much older than they are, so they are pretty close. These two are constantly with each other. They share a room, they share toys, and well, they pretty much share everything. However, spending that much time with someone comes with its challenges. They are easily irritated with each other. They have a hard time agreeing on things. Joe doesn’t want Timmy to touch ANY of his LEGOS, and Timmy hums. All. The. Time. He tells me that’s just the way God made him. While that’s true, I think it has more to do with the fact that Timmy doesn’t like quiet. If it’s too quiet, he’ll just start saying whatever pops into his mind, or he will hum. I think it’s adorable. Joe, on the other hand, most definitely does not. He gets super irritated with him and just wants him to go anywhere else then where he can hear him. This is why I was so surprised when Joe decided to spend his money on his little brother that day.
After choosing his own piece of candy from the machine, Joe and I started across the parking lot to our van. There on the ground, lying near the curb right where Joe could see it, was a shiny quarter. He looked up at me as if to ask if he was allowed to pick it up, and at that moment, I realized that I had been given a wonderful opportunity to share some seeds of truth with my precious son. I said, “Wow, Joe! You found a quarter! That’s so cool! You were super kind when you bought that gumball for Timmy, and I think that God saw that and wanted to bless you by giving you this new quarter to replace the one you spent on your brother! God loves to bless His children, especially when they bless others!” (From Luke 6:38)
Having that experience with my son made me think about all the opportunities to share truth with my kids that I had probably missed because I simply wasn’t looking. 2 Timothy says that we should always be prepared to preach the Word of God, and who better for this mama to preach to than my own kids? God needs to be a part of every single aspect of my life in order for my kids (and others) to see Him living in and through me, so I’m going to grab a hold of every opportunity to show my kids God’s truth in the ordinary, everyday moments that so often tend to pass by without being noticed. Moments like the other day when we saw God in a simple little gumball.
