Mid-day Musings

Another swift post -- so YGWYG (you get what you get!) -- to address my need for writing things down, while simultaneously fighting the dragon who needs things to sound so damn nice when I do....

I got to see my friend Susie over the weekend, and that always makes me happy! My heart feels lighter, my load lessened, after time with my friend. Anyway, whenever we catch up I find myself telling Miles tales, and in recounting some fairly recent stories for Susie, I am reminded of two moments that both greatly amused & kind of horrified me.


I. Biblical Newsflash
Miles takes a kids' Bible to Sunday School now. He's just starting to read, but as grades k-2 share a class, the whole group is encouraged to bring their own Bibles, to learn how to use them. It did seem like time....

I gave him one that had been given to our family. It says, right there on the cover, "Beginner's Bible." And, in smaller letters, "The New Testament." Things had been going swimmingly well, I thought, with my own little Martin Luther, direct reader of the Word (or at least viewer of the pictures). Then one Sunday afternoon Miles came to me half alarmed, half excited.

"Mom! Did you know --" (a slight pause while his Bible appeared from nowhere at my midsection, having been swung up from his side and thrust into my ribs) "-- there's a WHOLE other Bible, just like this one! And it has whole different stories in it. But it's called... THE OLD TESTAMENT. We should REALLY get it!


II. Return on Investment
Another Sunday School practice at our church is to award "Bible Bucks" for doing the right thing. (Yeah, yeah, yeah... we've debated the whole theology of this. I don't wanna get into it now. But if you're vaguely disturbed, just wait! You may soon be appalled....)

Kids get 1 Bible Buck for class attendance, and they get extras awarded for, say, helping clean up, for being kind, for remembering to bring an offering.... (Yeah, yeah! I know!)
Bible Bucks are only useful at the Bible Bucks store, which kids visit once a month to trade their "earnings" for small prizes and games.

So, meanwhile, Miles turns 6 and is given some cash for his birthday. He pooled his new money with his savings, counted his piggy bank collection and came up with a walloping $30 -- a good chunk of change for a kid! He was probably impressed with this large figure, because he began to throw it around. For weeks, he would volunteer money for any/ every purpose when it might be needed.

Once, Papa Jim had no cash on him and Miles said, "I been thinkin' I could share some of my money, 'cause Papa Jim doesn't have any. But I have $30! We could give him some." Or.... if I turned down a request for an after-school treat with the line, "I don't have any cash on me, honey," he would quickly remind me that he had money we could spend!

And then came the Sunday when we were heading into church and I mentioned that I had no offering for him to give this day, because my wallet was empty. And Miles said, "I have money! I have a lot of money. We could use it. ...I wonder how many Bible Bucks I'd get for the WHOLE $30!?"

Yeah. He wanted to buy some reward from God's house. Yeah. That's my boy!

Eek.

And, yet, so sweet!

I tried a whole lecture on how it's not the AMOUNT that matters to God; it's the attitude with which we give our money back to him. Lost the boy's attention in 90 seconds flat.

And that might just be the way with boys. It takes a long time to make a boy into a man. :) But God bless us learners! We all need a little grace for our misguidedness, don't we? Meanwhile, there's a whole other Bible we REALLY should look into....