Humility on Easter Sunday

I've heard it said that children keep you humble. Ben yesterday displayed a rare talent for doing just that. We were attending the Easter service at our church when Ben went up front to participate in the Children's Message. The pastor handed out stickers that could be used to tell the Easter story. He suggested that they could put the stickers on a page and put it up somewhere that they could look at it whenever they were feeling sad, to remind them of God's love for them. Then he asked the children to tell him what made them sad. One boy said, "not being able to play my video games" another said, "when a toy gets taken away." Meanwhile, Ben is waving his hand in the air; "I know, I know," so the pastor finally calls on him. In front of +/- 500 people, my child announces, "When your Mommy spanks you!!!" The pastor recommended that maybe, in that case, mother & child should both look at the picture of Jesus. I wanted to sink through the floor.

Now this might not have been so horrible to take if, say, we actually used spanking as a form of punishment. But, the fact of the matter is, we don't. I could count on one hand the number of times that Ben has been spanked in his lifetime. And I'd have fingers left over. But that fact means absolutely nothing to the half-a-thousand people who heard my child yesterday. I am, in their minds, the Spanker. I might as well sew a scarlet S on my chest.

Of course, on the way out the door, we shook hands with Pastor Dan. He made a point to remind me that Ben, apparently, doesn't like spankings. You know, just in case I didn't catch that remark when he made it in front of half the congregation.

I wondered if it were possible to print a retraction in the upcoming church memo? *sigh*

Ben swears he was just trying to think of what would make ANY kid sad, and he was talking about OTHER mommies--the ones who DO spank their kids. He felt really badly that I was so sad about it, and I had to make sure he knew that he didn't do anything wrong. Ben loves going up for the Children's Message, and I don't want to squelch his sweet, child-like openness. Usually, it's really cute. But Ijust have to recognize and accpet that I cannot control those times when it doesn't reflect on us, or on me personally, in a way that I would choose. THIS was definitely one of those times!

Yes, I am truly humbled to be a parent. And I love my son unconditionally. And, I guess, if you want to put a real Easter spin on that message, I can point out that that is the way God loves all of us.

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