God’s Mercy in a Threenager’s Chaos
It was a quiet Sunday afternoon. My son was in his room for his nap time and my daughter was in the playroom happily listening to her audiobook. I had just finished some housework, my husband was folding some laundry and I was about to snuggle up in my reading chair with a new book and a fresh mug of coffee.
Picturesque, right?
Well, I noticed my son had turned off his white noise machine. He’s on the cusp of giving up his afternoon nap but knows he needs to stay in his room until his OK to Wake clock tells him nap time is over. I had my book in my lap, ready to go, when I thought, “Maybe I should check the video monitor, just to make sure he’s doing okay.”
Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw.
The image on my phone showed my son with his feet in the little potty we keep in their room in case they need it in the middle of the night. Only the little potty was not empty. He was standing in his own poop and was taking his feet and sliding them all over the carpet.
I’ve never jumped out of my chair so fast. I was already calling for my husband when I burst into my son’s room and was yelling before thoughts had even formed. A slew of “What are you doing?! Why?! Why would you do this?!” was coming out of my mouth, and my son immediately burst into tears. My husband came into the room shortly after with gloves on and scooped him up and got him into the bathtub. I turned on the water and started the first of many scrub downs to clean him up while my husband began to tackle to absolute disaster that was our kid’s room.
While my son usually doubles down in his stubbornness when he has done something wrong, he was immediately apologetic. Through tears, he said he was so sorry and that he didn’t know why he did it and he would never put poop on the floor or his bed again.
“BED?!” my husband and I said at the same time. I heard my husband groan in defeat as I ran in to see that, yes, he had not only ground the mess into the carpet, but had painted it on the entire bed frame.
After getting my son cleaned up and changed into new clothes, I had him sit in the living room and told him to stay there until I figured out what was happening next. He gave no argument as I began to raid our cabinets for more cleaning supplies to help assist my husband however I could.
The whole time, I was silently praying, asking God for wisdom and discernment on how to handle this situation. I asked him to calm down my heart because I was still livid and grossed out and completely discouraged. I thought to myself, “Why would he do this? Why would he play in his own filth?”
And by God’s grace, the next thought that came to mind was, “You mean, just like you used to?”
I stopped in my tracks and looked over at my son and saw the guilt and shame written all over his face. I replayed how I had responded and immediately regretted it. But by God’s grace, that was the moment things started to turn around.
I called my daughter over to join my son and me to talk through the situation. The moment turned into a spontaneous lesson on sin, forgiveness, and grace.
You see, what God made click in my mind is that my son playing around in his filth really isn’t that different from the times I’ve rolled around in my own sin. The sin in our hearts is, quite frankly, gross. It’s dirty and unpleasant, and yet there are times when we rejoice in it, run to it, spread it around, and act like it’s the best new toy we’ve got!
But it’s not. No matter how much the world might celebrate it, no matter how much immediate pleasure it might give, no matter the temporary escape it may provide, it is filth. It separates us from the holy God who loves us and leaves us broken, despairing, and without hope.
But how does God meet us in our sin? When we come to him in repentance, even in the midst of our mess, how does he respond? Does he yell like I did? Is he shocked and disgusted? Does he immediately heap guilt onto us?
No, friend. He does not. Even though he has every right to turn his back on us, he looks at us with kindness, lavishes us with mercy, showers us with grace, and offers forgiveness that we in no way deserve.
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:1-10
And then, he does exactly what we did with my son. He washes us clean, clothes us in righteousness, love, and mercy, restores our souls, and makes us new.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,
“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure”—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.” Revelation 19: 6-8
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Revelation 21: 4-5
I pray that lessons like these take root in my kid’s hearts. I pray that every time they remember the time my son painted their room with poop (ugh, it’s just so gross) that they also remember the metaphor. They might, and they also might not. But I know I will.
God is so faithful to remind us of who he is and who we are in him. The beauty of his gospel can be found in the dirtiest of moments. The message of his grace is all around us. So, while I hope you have not had to deep clean poop out of carpets and off of walls and out of clothes recently, I do pray that God will remind you that in him, you are free. There is so much more to life than what this world and what sin has to offer. Run to him and bask in his forgiveness. Let His grace and salvation wash you clean and clothe you as his holy and righteous people.
