Long ago (probably 20 years) I received a lamp from my sister for my birthday. It was beautiful and comforting and I loved having it in my possession. Then I had children and that lamp was knocked off a dresser and broke. I was saddened, but more concerned about the safety of my child in the incident. Bye, bye lamp. Oh, well.
Then maybe 2 years ago I saw another lamp the same as I had had at a garage sale. I bought it and was happy once again. Since I didn't need it in my own room, dear daughter has had it on her dresser since then.
Life went on.
Last week 2 of the boys were fighting over Lego creations, intact ones and broken ones due to each others carelessness. I used the conflict for a lesson in mercy. How we should offer mercy instead of revenge, as Jesus teaches and shows us by example. The question was asked, "when we offer mercy, does that mean there isn't consequence for our actions?" No, of course not. Next question, "did you ever have something precious that got wrecked and you didn't get mad about it?" The lamp was the example that came to mind so I shared it. And how happy I was that I found another one. How people are so much more valuable than things. Any things. We talked through the conflict, asked forgiveness and made things right. And went to bed.
Just a couple of days later, dear daughter moved this same lamp to the living room to put on her desk to do some writing late at night. Then the next night another brother moved it to another desk to use, and then another brother accidentally knocked it off and crash (!!) there the lamp went again. I totally freaked out. I yelled and accused the 3 kids of carelessness and neglect. I was mad at myself for noticing the lamp was in a precarious spot but didn't summon anyone to put it away when I saw it. I was more worried about a thing than my people. I sure didn't offer mercy and forgiveness! I had acted exactly as my boys did over the broken Legos. Ouch! After I was finished yelling, 2 of the kids had all the pieces picked up and were super gluing it back together. I wanted to just throw the lamp away so I didn't need to be reminded of my immaturity and sinfulness, but also didn't want to deter the kids from their attempts at fixing the situation.
That evening when Greg saw the broken-but-fixed lamp, he wondered what had happened. I told him the whole story, especially the part about wanting to throw it out instead of being reminded of my blatant sinfulness. He said, "I think we should keep it. And name it The Mercy Lamp." Yep, he's right. And so we did.
God still keeps teaching us lessons, hey? How we can't just avoid sinfulness by our own self-will or good intentions. How our own expectations of ourselves must die each day, and our pride gets smushed once again. Such a humbling, good thing to crash back down and fall into the arms of Jesus, and Him alone. Again and again.
