Don't cry over spilled milk {or broken plates}...

It was bound to happen one of these days...and it happened the other night. Lukas was "helping" set the table, and was being as careful as any almost-4-year-old would be. He dropped one of our *good* plates and it shattered as it hit the floor with a crash.

I hate to admit it, but my initial reaction as I let out a horrified *GASP* was to think, "Oh no...my plates...my beautiful Fiesta ware Cinnabar plates!" *

But then I saw my son's face...his horrified expression went from alarm to anguish in about .2 seconds! The poor little guy...

He ran crying into the living room and threw himself on the couch. I pursued him and wrapped him up in my arms, wiping away his tears and trying to soothe him. Finally he calmed down enough for me to assure him that Mommy and Daddy loved him more than ANY dish (even Fiesta ware - shame on me!) and we were so glad that he was not harmed! He expressed that he had been scared...and that he felt sad for breaking the plate...and that he would be much more careful in the future.

Immediately, I had a flashback to several years ago - we were having some sort of holiday/family dinner at my mom and dad's house - shortly after Jason and I were married, so I was in my early 20s. My mom EXCELS at having a beautifully set table and I was setting out some crystal water goblets to compliment her Blue Willow dinnerware. Wouldn't you know, I dropped one of the goblets and it smashed into a million pieces. I burst into tears - I felt SO bad!

My mom hugged me and told me it was OK and that it was "only a dish, for goodness sake!"

I know there have been times in my life that I have "broken" much bigger things. I have broken promises, broken trust, and, perhaps at times in over-zealous parenting, I have broken my children's spirits. My mistakes and shortcomings are a daily reminder of Romans 3:23 [...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...]

As my eyes well up with tears, I consider God's exceedingly overwhelming GRACE exemplified in the following verse of Romans chapter 3 [...and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:24].

I am amazed that I can freely come to the Lord and confess my wrongdoing, I can express my sorrow and remorse and commit to lean not on my own understanding, and I can ask for God's guidance to make amends with the person (or persons) I have wronged. I can't completely comprehend it, but He mercifully pulls me into His loving arms and says, "I have cast your sin as far as the east is from the west - you are forgiven. My grace is sufficient for you."

2 Corinthians 12:9-10
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Psalm 103:11-13
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him...


*You may wonder WHY we use our *good* plates (or have our 4-year-old setting the table with them)...but they are really the only plates we own, besides a few plastic-type dishes that we usually use at lunch time. I guess I share a little bit of my mom's affection for a nicely set table, so if we are all eating together as a family, we almost always use our *good* dishes at supper time!