Broken Kids are Hard To Fix

This week I have learned a valuable lesson. We had company over the other night. The house was full of people. Everyone was laughing, talking, and having a good time. My daughter decided it was time to sit down with a blanket I guess, and wanted to attempt to watch tv. However, as she pulled the blanket out (I keep them in an end table next to the couch) of the end table she jerked it really hard and knocked my favorite snow globe on the floor and broke it.

Everyone got real quiet. It was my favorite snow globe. I love snow globes and my children know it. This one was of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus during the manger scene. It was an expensive, beautiful piece. I loved that globe and I keep it out all year round to remind me during the rough times that Jesus was born to save me - ME. It's encouraging. So, back to the story. Everyone knew the meaning of that globe and how much I loved it. After a brief minute of shocked silence and everyone staring at me sitting at the dining room table just staring at the scene, Ariel, my eldest, jumped into action. She started cleaning it up and first saying, "Gabs just run real fast upstairs. Just go." The look on my little girl's face was imbedded in my mind.

I was angry, oh I was angry. A friend sitting across from me said, "There are the red blotched that reveal your anger." All I could do was look at her and try to contain my anger. But when I saw the look on her face I did not say a word and I let her go upstairs.

Accidents happen, I understand, but this was the fourth item in two weeks that meant something to me that she broke. She knew she was in trouble. My eldest and her boyfriend cleaned up the mess and disappeared. I knew she was upstairs crying. I also knew I had to handle it carefully because as I was praying for my anger to subside I realized that four items had been broken in two weeks, and they are gone. I am still around and all is ok. I am continuing on living and am not any worse off than before the items were broken.

Broken children are not just gone once broken and the family does not come out okay after the incident is over. Yes, my feelings were not happy that the item was broken but I was not about to have my child's spirit broken either because of a material object!

I went up to her room and spoke with her, and let her know I love her. She is more important that material objects. We talked, prayed, and even laughed by the end of the night.

I sure hope we as parents can remember that our children and their spirits/souls are more important than our gain and material possessions. Many broken items can be fixed, they may have cracks, but they can be fixed.

How we talk to our children can determine whether they have cracks or are whole. I need to uplift a child. I, as an adult, break things and make mistakes. I chastise myself and move on. We need to remember that children are just that - human children. They are the future of our country and future leaders of the world. We cannot afford to break them and give them cracks for the enemy to move in and rebreak! We need to make them strong and ground them in a permanent foundation so they will not be moved.

These children will get strong by what we say, how we speak, where we go, and how we behave. They are watching us and know us. We are helping God mold them, and thus we have a great responsibility!

When I saw that glass shatter, all of this came to me and I pray I handle these children with care and give them a firm foundation!