“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:48
“Well… we survived!” That was the summation of Katie’s 5 day report in regards to the ‘Cousin Sleepover’ event at our house. The first 2.5 days were started with spending time with my oldest son’s family and 2 elementary school boys. That day ended with 5 of our older grandchildren coming to our house. Overlapping, came our youngest daughter’s family with 3 younger children.
“Cousin Sleep-over” has been a thing since my mother started it decades ago with MY children and their cousins. After being married and alone together, Katie thought children would be a wonderful benefit. Raising 4 children into adulthood and watching them go out into the world to become successful in marriage and parenting is the joy of my life. But we’ve lived alone for over 19 years.
“Time changes things,” is an understatement. When people ask how we managed to raise 4 children, all 2 years apart from each other, I have no wise answer other than to say, we just did it! Having grandkids come into our house to live for a few days was quite an event! OUR kids trust US to watch THEIR kids, and to keep them safe, fed and entertained. We trusted THEIR kids to know the basics of life.
Space and time, when crammed with a small group of small ones, have a way of overwhelming the senses. Individual desires, tastes, likes and dislikes must yield to the mutual benefits of everyone. That includes ours as well. We cannot expect cleanliness, calm and order, things that we mostly live with now, to remain the norm. I forgot how much energy and disorder accompany small children.
We had a GREAT time. That my wife is ‘The Queen’ when it comes to small children is a gift I GREATLY appreciate. Now that things are back to normal, we reflect on how it all went, even talking over some of the challenges. Which made me wonder… how great must GOD be to plan for the mass invasion of his children… into HIS Heaven… for ETERNITY! I mean… how crazy is THAT?
God’s instruction book (The Bible) and His Church, are His methods of prepping us for what is to come. I expected my kids ,who were taught by us, to pass on standards for living and getting along with others, since fighting, selfishness and fits of rage are unacceptable in a group setting. God gives us a lifetime here, working WITH us, to MAKE us what is His minimum standard in Heaven… PERFECT!
Are YOU working with God to become more like what He wants from you? Do you try to please Him? Are you sharing and caring for those in His immediate family… and are you working with Him to grow His family even bigger… and better? How are you doing at becoming… PERFECT?
