How Does Our Traffic Flow?

So did you have good conversations about love actions?  In our house we realized it is much harder than it appears.  In the comfort of our family discussing the love that God showed for us when he sent his son and the love Jesus showed for us when he died on the cross, it seems an easy enough task to go out in love.  My daughter had an experience where her first reaction was love but when pushed further by her peers, she reacted with frustration.  My son had a deeper experience, which was good based on his biblical answers to what love is.  Remember I was unsure how much he actually got?  Well, here's what happened in his eye opening experience. 

He was at a swimming practice and was swimming in a lane with a bunch of 8 year old boys.  By the way have you seen how 8 year old boys interact?  Wow, some love action is needed there!  Anyway, I see my son's face curl up in anger and then he uses the kickboard to splash water at the boy in front of him, not in jest, trust me, that was not a playing face.  I immediately went to the end of the pool lane and asked some detail, told him his reaction was inappropriate and sent him kicking to the other side of the pool.  After practice, he came and sat by me and as soon as some of the other moms and kids cleared away I asked him to come sit next to me.  He said, "Are we going to talk about what happened with Jonathon?" (fake name to protect the innocent!).  We had a tearful exchange about how hard love actions actually are and when you get frustrated about something and someone is not doing exactly what you want them to do it is so easy to respond in anger.  It is not only hard for us, but very hard for our children also.

On the way home from a baseball game last night we had a family conversation about the flow of traffic.  My daughter first asked what the speed limit was on the freeway (we were not speeding by the way, but that could often be the case), then we talked about driving with the flow of traffic.  We talked with them about the safety of driving with the flow of traffic on the freeway and how someone going too fast would cause it to become less safe just as much as a person who was driving too slow.  It hit me that we, and our children, find it easier to move with the flow of traffic.  My son reacted the way he has seen other boys react in the same situation and his reaction is a common place occurrence in a swimming lane of 8 year old boys.  All day we move in and out of the flow of traffic as we walk in and out of God's spirit depending on the situation.  As parents and adults, we may have a broader perspective and catch ourselves flowing with traffic instead of walking with God.  Our children, may have a harder time making that distinction.  Kids are affected more quickly and more intensely sometimes because they don't have the life experiences that tell them how little something is going to matter in the next five years or even in the next hour.  How much more important is it then for us to try to help them understand what it means to walk and act in love?  So when they do have the life experiences they already have some perspective on God's plan for their journey and what it involves.

1 John 4:11 says, "Dear friends, since God so loved us, we ought to love one another."  I think Paul started with 'dear friends' because he wanted to comfort us slightly knowing that what he was going to tell us to do would be a challenge.  It is easy to love those that love us back, to act in love towards those that act in love toward us, but that is going with the flow of traffic.  Dear friends, this is going to be hard for us and it is going to be even harder to encourage our children to not go with the flow of traffic, but to buck the system and love their neighbor as God loved them.

Hebrews 10:24 says, "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds."  That will be my strength this week and my remembrance when I want to just not talk about love with my kids and not spur them on toward the journey God has for them.  When I am tired from all the end of the year festivities and all the commitments I have made and want to just sit and watch iCarly with my kids (which is not always a bad thing).  When I am more comfortable going with the flow of traffic, I will remember that we are to spur one another on toward love, and I will spur my children on to the path of love, sharing in their frustration with them, while knowing God is at work.

We are adding a card to our bathroom window: "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud."  1 Corinthians 13:4  Love is the opposite of anger, frustration, and sadness.  My children came to that conclusion this week, fairly easily.  And even though it may have been hard to change a normal reaction to a love action this week, we know that we have a God who forgives and a family that holds on to each other.  Love is the opposite of the flow of traffic and we set out on another week to attempt to change more of our reactions to love actions.

By His Grace