Daycare

So im working at a daycare and i love it.

The other day God spoke something so clear to me using one of my kids there.

One of the little boys i look after had been really disobedient all day so i kept having to take things from him and putting him in time outs and such.

Towards the end of the day i saw him take a ball out of a girls hand and he yelled "mine" at her, that was not ok with me and i was kind of fed up with it so i walked over to him and asked him to hand me the ball, which he did, and then i explained to him that he was not allowed to play with the ball for the rest of the afternoon because he was not able to share.

The boy just sat really stunned that i really wasn't going to let him play with the ball again but he said ok and kind of hung his head and sat down but i was very pleased that he didn't throw a fit so i thought we would be fine.

A little later someone threw a ball over the fence and I went to go get it. The boy was still sitting in the same place I had left him to my surprise, I guess he had no desire to do anything else but play with that ball.

So I got the ball from the other side of the fence and decided I was gonna throw it over kind of near the boy just to see what his reaction would be. He didn't know I was going to throw it over. I threw it about 5 feet away from him.

I watched his face as he watched the ball roll past him. He kind of looked up then looked around to see who was watching, I was very far away, then he waited for a few seconds. He moved towards the ball, stopped for a moment and looked down at his feet.

I could tell he was thinking what to do, the first thoughts in my head were, you can do it, dont get the ball, listen to what I had told you.

After a few moments the boy ran over to the ball and threw himself down on it. The first thoughts in my head were not anger, even though I had been frustrated all day with him, they were love. I knew he had thought about not taking that ball and I knew he probably knew the consequences of me catching him with it but I could tell he was really tempted and it was just really hard for him.

I walked over to him and asked him to hand me the ball, he did very obediently and I told him I loved him very much but he needed to be obedient and listen to his teachers when they tell him to do something. I talked to him for a moment and then I handed it back to him and he gave me a hug.

God spoke a lot to me about sin in this. This was really only a 5 minute deal but Jesus reminded me of all the times I sin. Every time I can just imagine Him saying to me "you can do it, fight it, trust Me, you dont need that, I love you, run away, turn to me! And then I turn my back on Him and mess things up because I dont listen. I really just got a picture of a God who really really loves us and cares for us. I was so full of love for this little boy who had been so annoying all day even when he grabbed the ball for the last time because I know he tried to listen and I know it was a struggle for him to resist what was in front of him.

Jesus always loves us and the enemy wants us to feel shame when we sin, Jesus looks past it and forgives us and washes us clean. I need to remember how the Lord spurs me on constantly to be righteous and pure and that he doesn't hate me when I mess up. Its because of that that I want to live a blameless life for him, not because of condemnation but for the love and life He brings to me.