Mr. Interrogation’s Determination

My oldest son is destined to be a interrogation officer in the C.I.A.  He can get people to admit things they never planned on admitting to.  Case in point is the conversation I overheard between him and his brother last night after lights out (which usually just means “let’s start the party” to these little night owls)…

“There’s some bad guys in our bed, bro!”  Judah, the younger brother sounded pretty  sure about this.
“There are no bad guys here.”  Gideon said with a “please get real” sigh.
“Yes, there are!”  Judah held his ground.
“Okay…are you telling a lie?”
“NO!”  Judah was outraged at the accusation.
“Well then, Judah, are you not telling the truth?”
“No…”  Judah had to think about that one.
“Hmm.  Are you just pretending?”
“No, bro!”
“Oh.” Gideon was getting bored but persisted, the truth must be found out.   “There are no   bad guys here, are there?  Are you pretending to tell the truth?”
“No…”  Judah was now confused.  What were they talking about again?
“So you did not tell the truth!”
“No….yes…I NOT KNOW BRO!”  Judah cracked.
“Judah, you should not lie.”

At this point, I admit…even I was confused!  Whew, who needs truth serum when you have a relentless four year old on a quest for truth.  I was laughing quietly when I walked away, leaving little Judah to fend for himself in the hot seat, but it hit me that my son’s determination was something I needed more of in my own life.

I love the determination of children.  Think about it, have you ever heard of a toddler not walking because they just gave up trying?  No matter how many times they bang the coffee table (ours is on a sabbatical in storage until all our kids have learned to walk) or get plowed over by an older sibling when they take a tentative step, they just keep on trucking.  They get up again.  And again.  Finally, they take off and become unstoppable!

Lately I have been overwhelmed.  Life has a way of getting busy without providing much of a break sometimes and it’s on those days I want to just give up.  The mess is back.  The laundry is piled to the ceiling, again.  The kids are messy…again (seriously?  I just gave you a bath a week ago!  What’s going on?!).  And the TO DO list gets longer and longer with no end in sight.

I need to take some tips from my little interrogation officers and beginning walkers to not give up.  I don’t have to do it all, I just got to keep trucking.  Take one more step and move forward another day.

Sometimes it’s not the profound truths that change our lives but rather small acts of faithfulness lived out in the day-to-day grind.

I’m just relived we don’t have to do this in our own ability.  The One who has called us to this mission in our life will be faithful to equip us for it.  Just one step at a time…

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.  Philippians 1:6