Grace upon Grace

I got home from work and started to cook dinner.  The inevitable question came from Seth:  "Can we play Wii?"

 

I have a love/hate relationship with screen time.

 

Since it had been a few days, I relented. 

 

As I stood in the kitchen, listening to Seth and Zechariah shriek with delight as they conquered Mario Brothers, I suddenly heard, "OH, JESUS."

 

I nearly broke my pan.

 

Now, let's pause for a moment and acknowledge that I over-reacted here.  I own it.  I did.  But if there is any word/phrase/reaction that makes my skin twist up into knots, it's this one right here.  JESUS. 

 

I ordered the boys to pause the game.  I told Zechariah to go to his room and get his Bible out.  I screamed to anyone who would listen how WRONG and gross and ugly that was.  Gah.  I completely freaked out.

 

So I kept cooking and Seth kept playing -- now with Leah.

 

After cooler heads prevailed, I went up to Zechariah's room where I found him dutifully reading his Bible.  I sat on the bed across from him, now totally calm.  I explained why saying "Jesus" or "Jesus Christ" is so offensive to me and to God.  We talked about how it is similar to saying, "Oh my God" which was a previous lesson in our home.  I told him it scared me when he said it.  I also said that I understood that his friends say it, but that we are not going to do/say everything our friends do.

 

Once I finally took a breath, Zechariah burst into tears.  We spent the next 5 minutes huddled up on my lap, working through all the feelings about what he said and my {awesome} reaction to it.

 

And then we moved on.  We cleaned his gecko cage and went downstairs to finish dinner.

 

At least four hours later, the *event* securely behind me, I was putting the kids to bed.  When I jumped in Zechariah's bed to snuggle him, without missing a beat he said to me, "Mom?  I'm sorry I said that thing."

 

I almost vomited.  This dear, sweet, sensitive, wise and mature beyond understanding child had been thinking about this for hours.  And then he was brave enough to apologize to me.  I took a deep breath and told him I knew he was sorry.  I told him I was so proud of him and how much Jesus (and I) love his tender, precious heart.

 

Zechariah is such a gift to me and my other babies.  Lord, thank you for trusting me with him.

In Jesus' name....