Have you ever been in a situation where you think... I should walk up to that complete stranger, give her a piece of my mind, and if she tries to say something back I will punch her in the name of Jesus?
Or is that only me?
I'm not so certain that God is pleased with punching in the name of Jesus, so I held back. Besides, Ben thinks that I'm a crazy person and told me that I couldn't go say anything to the woman. He's such a spoil sport some times.
So, here's what happened.
We received an amazingly generous gift certificate to HuHots as a Christmas present and took the Turkeys out for a late lunch. While we were there I noticed a very young couple with two young kids. The older of the two children looked barely over a year and the baby was in an infant carrier. The couple was so young that I actually wondered if they were just babysitting the kids. They intrigued me and I have a horrible staring problem.
The one year old was playing with his food and dropped a few noodles onto the floor. He was not throwing a fit or being what I would say would be "naughty". But, it annoyed the mom. So much so that she grabbed her son's face and said in a angry whisper, "Eat your f*&%$#g food or I'm going to take you into the bathroom and beat your a$$."
Take a moment to soak that up.
He was little. She was young. She didn't follow through.
She did look at her boyfriend/husband/friend and laugh after she said it.
Not sure if that meant she was just joking with her son or if she was just being super cool by saying those things.
Either way it was completely inappropriate and broke my heart.
After telling Ben what she said and seeing his sickened expression I knew that I wasn't alone in my response. Though he seemed to think that I couldn't get involved by the whole PITNOJ plan I had. (Um, that's short for punching in the name of Jesus ... it's going to be bigger than LOL.) Seriously, what is with him being so calm?
So, if there was to be no punching on this day, I decided my next response should be to pray. I prayed for the little boy's heart. I prayed for the mom to receive wisdom from an older more mature woman who could help her parenting skills. I prayed that I would have the opportunity to say something constructive and not lash out in my anger.
Turns out that as we were walking out of HuHots so were they ... and they headed in the same direction that we were ... and they happened to cut me off from the rest of my family and I needed to get around them. So I decided that as I was walking by I would say something:
"Are both of these babies yours?" I said.
"Yep!" She replied seemingly pleased with herself.
And then the only words that came to my mind were angry words. Words that would just make her defensive and ticked off.
So I kept walking.
We stopped at a bathroom and I prayed more. "Please give me another opportunity to say something that will build into that young mom's life." I prayed that if God would have me to say what I planned on saying (without anger or punching) that I would run into them again.
We left the bathroom and I kept my eyes peeled for them. Lo and behold they were walking straight towards us!! I cleared my throat and gave myself a pep talk.
And then they turned and went the other direction. Shootfire. I lost my opportunity.
So here's my advice to all the mama's out there. Take it or leave it:
Or is that only me?
I'm not so certain that God is pleased with punching in the name of Jesus, so I held back. Besides, Ben thinks that I'm a crazy person and told me that I couldn't go say anything to the woman. He's such a spoil sport some times.
So, here's what happened.
We received an amazingly generous gift certificate to HuHots as a Christmas present and took the Turkeys out for a late lunch. While we were there I noticed a very young couple with two young kids. The older of the two children looked barely over a year and the baby was in an infant carrier. The couple was so young that I actually wondered if they were just babysitting the kids. They intrigued me and I have a horrible staring problem.
The one year old was playing with his food and dropped a few noodles onto the floor. He was not throwing a fit or being what I would say would be "naughty". But, it annoyed the mom. So much so that she grabbed her son's face and said in a angry whisper, "Eat your f*&%$#g food or I'm going to take you into the bathroom and beat your a$$."
Take a moment to soak that up.
He was little. She was young. She didn't follow through.
She did look at her boyfriend/husband/friend and laugh after she said it.
Not sure if that meant she was just joking with her son or if she was just being super cool by saying those things.
Either way it was completely inappropriate and broke my heart.
After telling Ben what she said and seeing his sickened expression I knew that I wasn't alone in my response. Though he seemed to think that I couldn't get involved by the whole PITNOJ plan I had. (Um, that's short for punching in the name of Jesus ... it's going to be bigger than LOL.) Seriously, what is with him being so calm?
So, if there was to be no punching on this day, I decided my next response should be to pray. I prayed for the little boy's heart. I prayed for the mom to receive wisdom from an older more mature woman who could help her parenting skills. I prayed that I would have the opportunity to say something constructive and not lash out in my anger.
Turns out that as we were walking out of HuHots so were they ... and they headed in the same direction that we were ... and they happened to cut me off from the rest of my family and I needed to get around them. So I decided that as I was walking by I would say something:
"Are both of these babies yours?" I said.
"Yep!" She replied seemingly pleased with herself.
And then the only words that came to my mind were angry words. Words that would just make her defensive and ticked off.
So I kept walking.
We stopped at a bathroom and I prayed more. "Please give me another opportunity to say something that will build into that young mom's life." I prayed that if God would have me to say what I planned on saying (without anger or punching) that I would run into them again.
We left the bathroom and I kept my eyes peeled for them. Lo and behold they were walking straight towards us!! I cleared my throat and gave myself a pep talk.
And then they turned and went the other direction. Shootfire. I lost my opportunity.
So here's my advice to all the mama's out there. Take it or leave it:
Please be wise with your words. Because your words are written on the tablet of your child's heart forever.
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