a pumpkin patch and a bit of selfishness...

Last week Ashlyn, Landon and I made a visit to the pumpkin patch.
I will be completely honest...I wasn't feelin' it.  At the time we were in the middle of a heat wave.  So while those in the Midwest are wearing jeans and sweaters while they gaze at fall leaves and pick out the perfect pumpkin, we were picking out our pumpkins in 102 degree heat.  I had sweat running down my back, my face was itchy from the heat and I was carrying around a heavy camera and a pumpkin.  I got over myself for the kids because I knew how excited they were to go to the pumpkin patch.They love visiting the petting zoo every year.  Only a few of the animals had been delivered when we visited but they both left saying that they wanted to bring home a rabbit and a pig...um, yeah...good luck with that.



On a different note...

do you see these faces...

sweet, right?

Well, currently both of my sweet kids are in their rooms throwing the biggest tantrum/pity party.  I have one who is muttering to herself that no one understands her and that life isn't fair and the other is transitioning between yelling wonderfully loving things like, "I HATE YOU!" at the top of his lungs and screaming bloody murder.

Why, you might ask, are my angelic children behaving like this?  Well, it's because I offered to take them out for a special treat.  Why, isn't that how you thank someone who treats you to something nice?

Let me lay it all out for you...
Ashlyn recently got a gift card to Jamba Juice.  She asked me yesterday if we could go after school on Wednesday since it is a short day.  I said yes, we could go after school.  When I picked up the kids from school Ashlyn told me that she forgot her gift card at home.  I told her that was no big deal, I will buy them the smoothies and she could use her gift card another time.  Ashlyn tells me that she didn't just want a smoothie, she wanted to use her gift card to buy another snack and could I drive home to get her gift card and then drive back to Jamba Juice.  So I explained that the smoothie was enough of a snack and that gas is too expensive for me to drive all the way home and then ALL the way back to Jamba Juice.  By this point both of the kids were whining and complaining that they wanted a smoothie AND a snack and Ashlyn was still telling me that I needed to go home to get her gift card.  I calmly told them that we were not going to Jamba Juice at all today.  They could have a snack at home and the next time I offered to do something special for them I hoped they would be thankful instead of being selfish and complaining.  

This wasn't easy for me.  I don't like having to tell my kids they can't have something... and seriously, I wanted a smoothie for myself!  The thing is, I had just had a conversation with the Ashlyn and Landon this morning about selfishness.  We talked about how God doesn't want us to do anything from selfishness but to consider other people more important than ourselves.  He wants us to think about other people's interests and not just our own.  Philippians 2:3-4

Let's face it, we are all selfish.  We think about ourselves all the time... and I am the worst...I am selfish with my time, I am selfish with my wants, I am selfish with my life.  In my heart I act just like my kids acted today. I complain when I should be thankful.  I get angry when I don't get my way.  Too often I think only about myself and not about others.  That is why Jesus tells us that the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as you love yourself.  God knows that we already love ourselves but He wants us to love others just like we would want to be loved.  When something doesn't go your way or you don't get exactly what you want how do you react?  Are you rude?  Do you yell?  Do you get angry?  Do you complain?

God also wants us to be thankful in all circumstances.  That means even when things don't go our way. It means not looking for the negative aspects of a situation but being thankful.  Too often we focus on the negative.  It reminds me of a sermon that I heard a couple of months ago.  The pastor made an analogy to showcase our complaining hearts:  Have you ever been to Disneyland, you know, the happiest place on earth.  You look around and there is fun everywhere you look!  Rides, characters, games, food... it's almost overwhelming how all of this could be right at your fingertips.  Then in the middle of all that excitement you see the kid who is throwing a huge tantrum because his parents won't buy him a $9 churro.  How many times are we that "$9 churro kid" ignoring all the amazing blessings all around us and focusing only on the one thing we can't have?  Look at me, at the beginning of this post I was complaining about how hot it was at the pumpkin patch instead of being thankful that I was able to spend time with my kids and make holidays special for them.

I always find it funny that the lessons that I am teaching my kids always have a way of revealing that same problem in myself.

Hmmm...maybe the lesson isn't for them after all.