4 lollipops, 2 kids, and 1 lesson

Yesterday, I had promised Jordan and Ava that we would go on a walk and buy 4 lollipops after their nap.  As soon as Ava arose from her nap, she quickly reminded me in a tone that woke Jordan that we had a mission to accomplish.

What I thought would be a short walk down the road, turned into a journey with a lesson.  We ventured from merchant to merchant asking the same question, "Do you have lollipops?"  After the 5th merchant and at least a mile of walking, we had struck gold.

From there, we decided, or I decided,  to sit down and watch the world go by.  As I was sitting there, God was telling me that this was a great opportunity for a solid lesson from the Scriptures.  

The dialogue went something like this:

"Jordan and Ava, what do you think God wants you to do with these lollipops."  

Ava responded quickly, "Dad, he wants us to eat them."  In which I agreed.

But I responded, "But you guys each have two lollipops..you can only eat one at a time!  Do you think God would want you to give away one of your lollipops to a kid you see on the street?"

Jordan broke the brief silence by saying, "No, I think he wants us to eat both of them."  

Isn't the unadulterated honesty so great!  

I responded with, "In the bible it says that we should do to others as we would want them to do to us.  Don't you think you would like for someone to give you a lollipop if they had an extra one."

Immediately, Jordan gets up and walks about 20 yards and hands a little boy his lollipop.  Ava on the other hand, takes the lollipops out of my pocket and looks at both of them.  She then glances at me and then at the lollipops and slowly gets up and takes one lollipop to a girl close by.  

The whole point of this little story is to remind us all how easy it is to teach our children lessons from the Scriptures.  Tangible lessons that will stick close to their heart.  Lessons that they will remember, because it involves them immediately responding in obedience or disobedience.  

Reminds me of what God told the Israelites in Deuteronomy 6:5-7

And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today.  Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up."

Don't miss those great teaching moments that God allows you with your kids.  

ON a side note, the answer is "No, I would not have made them give their lollipops away.  This is part of the lesson too."