Sometimes I feel like am nailing this parenting thing. Sometimes, okay most times, I feel like I am barely holding on by the skin of my teeth. So when, this past week when everyone was taught a valuable life lesson completely on accident I’m not going to lie, I was impressed, but not with myself.
It all started with a promo code to try a free week of Blue Apron courtesy of someone selling my info when we moved to Georgia. I was super psyched to try it out because meal planning is ranked right up there with laundry and grocery shopping. Then, much to my dismay, I was looking at these delicious gourmet dishes that my kids were never, ever in a million years going to eat. I decided that pickiness be darned! I was going to try this out because at this point I was salivating looking at pictures of food. So I did what every logical mom would do and I unchecked the family meal plan and signed us up for the meals for two. Three wonderful meals, all planned out, all ingredients provided, and all I had to do was my favorite part, the cooking.
After I got myself all set up and my meals all picked out, the reality hit – I still had to feed the small people. My first inclination was to prepare a second meal for them and their crazy picky appetites. Then life happened and the idea floated to the place in my brain where good intentions go to die. Fast forward to the next week when my glorious box of good food shows up and Ethan asks me “But Mom, what are WE going to eat?” I said the most insane thing ever uttered to a 12 year old boy, “Why don’t you cook something for you and Evie?” And. He. DID. He prepared the most lovely bland meal of fish sticks and cous cous and applesauce. He even got them milk to drink.
At some point during the meal, Evie made a comment about the cous cous. I didn’t hear it exactly because I was too busy enjoying my dinner, but it was negative in nature. My children are the king and queen of snide remarks regarding dinner. Ethan got upset. After dinner, Ethan came to me and APOLOGIZED for making comments on the food when I cook. He said it really hurt his feelings that Evie had made a comment about his cooking and he understood how it made me feel now.
The next night, once again excited by my delicious dinner, while pulling out my ingredients, Evie walks up, “It’s my turn to cook tonight.” I was flabbergasted. I don’t know when they talked over this cooking plan, but I decided not to pry. She made cheese ravioli with no sauce and rice crispy treats. Her sense of a balanced meal was a little off, but hey. My children who fight over everything were being considerate of each other and taking turns to boot. And maybe it was my imagination, but they seemed to be getting along a little better too.
It occurred to me that during all of this, that underneath all that fighting and eye rolling and complaining were two kids who actually loved each other (praise hands). I also realized that often times I just go on auto pilot. I do all the things I need to do with my head down and blinders up, just to get it done. I don’t often take the time to teach deliberate lessons when I don’t see a problem that needs to be fixed.
But God swooped in and taught us all a lesson. Jesus was all about loving and serving others. I pray for my kids daily that they will have a heart for service. I look for opportunities outside of our family for them to have a chance to serve others. I pray that they will love people like Jesus loves people. I had somehow totally missed an opportunity for them to show love to each other and serve our family that was right under my nose. And they learned to be appreciative of the service and love that go into something as simple as dinner. I was impressed. God always shows up and floors me when I least expect it. It was a good reminder for me to stop and look for God in the everyday, small things, even free food. God is awesome like that.
