Revelation from a frazzled day

I have just spent another couple of hours finishing up packing for our long awaited vacation.  I keep having the feeling that I am forgetting something.  I can't figure out if traveling by car or airplane is harder,.  If you could see my kitchen table right now, you would vote for car being harder.  I have a variety of bags, totes, coolers, and other "must take with us" things accumulating there.  On the other hand, if we were flying, we would have just our two bags.  But then again, trying to figure out what we HAD to pack would be much harder.  So I am thankful that we have room in the car for those extra things. 

I am feeling a bit frazzled tonight. It was a rather tough day at work.  It is a mystery to me why three year old boys think it is great fun to spit at each other and to lick anything that is close to them!  Anyone have any ideas here?  I am also growing very tired of "tattle tales".  While we are very aware that there is plenty of foolishness happening that is fodder for the tattlers, I'm saying "enough is enough!"  If we don't witness the act, we will not respond (within reason....if there is blood, a big mark on someone's body, or crazy crying, we step in)! Our response is always "Go and talk to your friend.  Use your words."  Even though this has always been our response, we will no longer listen to the tale being told.  I simply hate this stage of growing up.   We have a couple of kids who seem to just keep their eyes on everyone else and report everything they see.

So on the way home from work I was thinking about my day.  I guess our world does need people who watch and report what they see.  We rely on exactly this type of people for our news reporting.  It is a useful skill and I think I will remember this when dealing with our little "tattlers".  I was thinking about some of the other character qualities that are already so apparent in these little 3's.  There are a couple of children who are so quick to help out their friends.  They clearly have compassion and caring in their makeup.  We have more than one child that can already build and create with Duplos in ways that amaze me.  They could be future inventors or engineers.  There is one little girl who could sit at the table and color all day if we would let her.  I have never seen a three year old color so well with so much detail.  Yes, she is quite the artist. 

I love that Jesus' plan and purpose for us begins at birth.  Each of us has very specific and very clear personality traits and interests that help us fulfill our destiny.   I love that I can have a very different perspective of these children I work with each day.  And it has given me insight in how to pray for each of them.  I am still wondering exactly what the destiny is for the kids who think it is wonderful to spit at each other.  I am praying that I will begin to see exactly what is behind that crazy behavior and get to their heart of these kids!  Yes, I will have lots of time on vacation to ponder this!

Jesus, thank you for rest and relaxing.  Thank you for the opportunity to get a new perspective on my work and the reminder to see beyond the behavior.  Holy Spirit, help us all to apply this lesson to everyone that we deal with.  Especially those that might bother or annoy us.  Jesus, thank you for revelation and inspiration.  Thank you for planning our destiny!  Amen