Out of the Mouths of Babes: We’re all Sheep!
Today, I found myself repeating the same things over and over and over again. “Put your shoes in your shoe bin;” “Wash your hands after using the bathroom;” “Don’t just walk on the toys, pick them up;” “Stop arguing with your brother.” Finally, after one repetition too many, I gave in and added that age-old question “HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU THESE THINGS?!”
“Sorry, Mom,” came the off-handed response from my 11-year-old, Ryan. “Sorry,” said my eight-year-old, Connor, as he started out of the room.
“Stop saying sorry when you don’t really mean it,” I said in exasperation. “You say, ‘sorry,’ and then just turn around and do the same thing again. You’re not really sorry or you’d try harder to change your behavior.”
Unfazed by my frustration, Connor looked at me and said, “Don”t you know we’re all sheep, Mommy?” Then, seeing my utter confusion, he went on. “Sheep aren’t very smart you know, Mom.” I’m sure I still had that blank look on my face. “Um, yes, I know,” I managed before he continued.
“The Bible calls us sheep, Mommy. We’re all sheep. That’s because we keep making the same mistakes over and over and over again, Mommy.”
Ah, yes… well, it seems his Bible lessons have sunk in, even if the need to pick up toys rather than walking on top of them has not. And so it seems I will need to continue to remind my little sheep to “Put your shoes in the shoe bin,” and to “Wash your hands after using the bathroom,” but I really shouldn’t complain. I’ll likely only have to tell them these things a few hundred more times over the next ten years or so. The Lord has been repeating things for His children for THOUSANDS OF YEARS! Looking at it that way, I’m getting off easy, wouldn’t you say?!
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| My little lambs: Connor (age 12 months, 2004) |
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| and Ryan (age six months, 2001) |