July 15th, 2008
An Up-Down Day
“Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”
Romans 12:15
Yesterday was an “up-down” day. How in the world do you explain to an 8 year old the concept of not feeling guilty over his joy when someone close to him is in mourning? I could see Ryan’s “wheels turning” as grappled with the verse “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” Why?
That afternoon I had taken Ryan to a doctor’s appointment where they took his cast off!! The xray showed it had healed well. He was so excited to be able to move his arm. In fact, in the doctor’s office he started doing jumping jacks just to see if he could do them! He also could not wait to jump into the pool. It has been a long 7 weeks of avoiding water. However, when we got home Caleb met us at the door with tears in his eyes.
Caleb’s pet hamster, Bob, died. Caleb went to feed him and noticed that Bob did not come out to greet him like he usually does. It was a shock for Caleb to find him cold and stiff.
And so, we had a mixture of emotions running through the house. Extreme excitement and joy in one boy and deep sorrow in another. Thus we talked about the Romans 12 verse. I’m not sure they “got” it. I’m not sure I completely understand it. However, as the mom, I acutely felt the emotion of each boy. Perhaps, when the emotion is based in love it is easy to feel whatever a person around us is feeling. How in the world do you teach that to children?!?