Not Made for Destruction

Today after lunch, Ian and I were playing with his trains in his room. (Ok, that could be said for every single day of my life, but whatever.) It was almost nap time, and I advised him to only get out some of his tracks instead of all of them so we would have more time to play. You would have thought I'd asked him to stand outside in the snow with no shoes for two days, or something equally abusive and horrific. Oh, the crying and screaming and thrashing about that ensued!

In the midst of this typically toddlerish tantrum, he began kicking and throwing around the tracks that were already out of their box. I was immediately reminded of something that our former pastor in Bloomington, Bob Whitaker, said in a recent sermon about the 6th commandment. He reminded us that we are made in the image of God, and therefore, are not made to destroy, but to create, reconcile, restore, and heal.

Try explaining that to an upset 3-year-old.

After Ian calmed down enough (and after a well-deserved 3-minute time-out), we cuddled in the rocking chair and talked about how God made us to help him take care of things and not to hurt them and other people. Surprisingly, he seemed to get it. We got up, went back to his room, and played happily (and constructively) with choo choos until nap time.

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Check out Bob's sermon in its entirety here. (23 minutes, 15 seconds)