Sadly, my two young girls haven't quite grasped the full meaning of this trash-can-be-treasure concept. Yes, they do, like most children, love to play with boxes. Sometimes even more than the toy that came in the box. When Coralyn (now 3 years old) was getting ready to celebrate her first birthday, my mother-in-law asked what she should get Coralyn for a present. I jokingly told her, "the biggest box you have." Low and behold, one of Coralyn's gifts at her party was an empty box. Sure enough, she LOVED crawling in and out of it, over and over and over again. I think it might have been her favorite present of all!
As she has grown up, Coralyn has continued to be fascinated by playing with out of the ordinary "toys." On a daily basis, she will fill up a purse or bag or basket with random items she finds around the house. She then attempts to lug her bag of "treasures" all over the house. And heaven forbid, Kellah or one of the daycare boys even thinks about touching her precious loot. Or worse yet, if I go to throw something away in the trash can before she can claim that she simply, absolutely NEEDS it. Our "receipt" from the library telling us what books we checked out and when they are due -- well, that is obviously worth keeping, and stashing into the purse with all the other odds and ends Coralyn rounded up on that particular day. An advertisement for hearing aides we got in the mail -- you would think it was made of gold the way Coralyn screamed that she wants it and then proceeds to stuff it in a basket full of animals, fridge magnets, wooden blocks, and a squishy ball. And who could get rid of a deflated birthday balloon, a tag from a new pair of socks, a plastic sack from Wal-Mart, or the tiniest piece of bubble wrap?!
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| She was just getting started, as she informed me, "I'm ready to go to the store now." |
Lately, Kellah has been testing the vision in the eyes in the back of my head that every mom around the world somehow magically gets as soon as their first child is born. If I turn my head for just a second, Kellah siezes the opportunity and will climb up on the coffee table, her sister's bed, a step ladder, or anything else she can managed to get atop.
The child is seriously going to turn my hair gray before I turn 30 in March!
Before she could climb, though, Kellah kept me busy with her disgusting affection for picking through any trash can left at her level. I would leave her and Coralyn in one of their rooms, delighted how well they were playing together, only to find her moments later rummaging through the garbage and doing what all small children do -- putting everything she found in her mouth! Gross!
I remember thinking this affinity for trash was odd back in the day before I had children of my own. I was living with Jarod and Jennifer Ebenhack, who at the time had five children under the age of 7. One of their daughters and one of their sons in particular had a habit of searching through the trash cans to see what "treasures" they could find. Sometimes they would bring an item to Jennifer or me, asking us why in the world we had thrown it away when it was obviously such a marvelous gem of priceless value. The worst of all discoveries was a tampon applicator that the boy showed his mom and questioned with all the innocence in the world, "What's this?" I don't remember exactly how Jennifer explained herself out of that one, but I do know her daughter didn't hear that it wasn't a toy, or something to eat for that matter. For not that long after, we discovered the girl sucking on a tampon applicator like it was the most delicious lollipop she'd ever had! I just about threw up! In my disgust, I questioned why Jennifer hadn't stressed to her children how gross and nasty and yucky playing in the trash was!
And now, 6 years later, I have two young children of my own. One of whom hoards trash like it's treasure, and the other of whom eats the trash like its a fancy delicacy. Jennifer, I am sorry I judged you. And your children. Please don't judge me, or my girls. Remember, that story could be part of a book that one day makes us rich! ;)
Why, oh why, do children insist on playing with trash when they have literally a hundred toys in front of them? What makes scraps of paper more appealing than a brand new Build-a-Bear? Who else besides a young child would choose to suck on a popped balloon when given the chance to push around toy cars? And what attracts children to muddy boots or entices them to taste every single pair of shoes your family owns?
Thankfully, Kellah has turned her attention to things besides our trash can (and I have learned to empty the trash cans every day). As of late, Kellah's favorite toys are the tupperware containers and lids I keep in the bottom kitchen cabinets. Despite our efforts to child-lock the doors, Kellah has discovered how to open them with ease. She then proceeds to take out every single one of the containers, and their lids, scattering them across the kitchen floor such that I have to watch my every step so as not to crush anything. Once the cabinet is empty, Kellah finds great joy in climbing into the cupboard herself and playing with the food processor, blender, and crockpots that are too heavy for her to remove. If she can't move them out of her way, why not just chew on the electrical cords?
Speaking of which, the child also seems to be drawn to electrical outlets like a magnet is to metal. You would think I abused the girl the way she screams and cries and gives you the most pitiful look possible when I tell her NO and try to get her to play with something besides the electrical outlet. Like the brand new toy phone she got for her birthday. I think she is beginning to get the message that they are off limits because when she reached to put her fingers in an outlet today, I sternly told her, "NO!" After the third time, obviously thinking this is such a fun game, Kellah pulled her hands back on her own accord and hugged them to her chest, shaking her head and then looking at me for confirmation. Yes, my dear, you finally made a good choice in deciding NOT to put your fingers in the outlet.
She promptly made her way to the bottom of the basement stairs, attempting to climb them without any help from me. That, of course, is so much safer! NOT...
Kellah's lowest moment by far, at this point in her young life at least, was the other day when Lawrence and I were trying to get the house cleaned up and ready for a last minute showing. I was working on wiping off the kitchen counters, trying to keep my eye on Kellah as she had been playing in our master bathroom that is right off the kitchen (and our bedroom on the other side). She wasn't pulling on the roll of toilet paper. She wasn't chewing on a tube of toothpaste. She wasn't sticking her hand in the toilet (like she did a couple weeks ago when my parents treated us to supper out and I took Kellah with me into the bathroom!). I thought all was good. She was leaving me alone and letting me get my work done. She was being quiet. I should have known right then and there something was wrong, terribly wrong!
My internal mommy warning hazard lights finally started flashing in my head, and I quickly put down the washcloth to go and see what trouble my daughter had gotten into this time.
Kellah was sitting between the sink and toilet, happily chewing on the toilet bowl cleaner brush! I about lost my breakfast.
I had been wanting to write a blog post about how my girls are more inclined to play with empty boxes, scraps of paper, and tupperware containers instead of the fabulous toys readily available to them in nearly every room of our house. God had been challenging me, pointing out that I too often choose "trash" over the treasure He so generously offers me. Sometimes though, I don't necessarily get distracted by trash, per say, but I am still preoccupied with something of far lesser worth than what God would have for me. Just as Kellah will play with a pair of plastic salad tongs I "accidentally" drop on the floor, knowing she will want to squirm down out of my arms so she can get to this new "toy," giving me a few minutes to prepare supper without a child on my hip. Or I can distract Coralyn for a few moments if I let her color all over a piece of junk mail that she doesn't realize I am going to throw away when she's done.
How often do I get distracted by one of Satan's clever ploys or schemes? Way back in the day, I read C. S. Lewis's book Screwtape Letters, in which Satan is writing to one of his demons, discipling him in the ways of keeping Christians from being effective in God's kingdom. One piece of advice Satan gives his mentoree is to keep believers so busy that they don't have time for God, or to convince them that they will have plenty of time to focus on God tomorrow, that whatever else is pressing them at the moment is far more important than God.
I guess I fell prey to this trick myself as I just now "found time" to sit down and write this blog post. It took my daughter chewing on a toilet bowl brush to get me here!
As gross and disgusting and nasty as that was, I have to admit that I am spiritually guilty of doing the same thing. But I don't want to be that way. Most certainly not! So, what can I do? How can I change?
God keeps bringing me back to the well-known passage in Hebrews,
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith,
let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.
And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.
We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus,
the champion who initiates and perfects our faith."
If my eyes are on Jesus, I can't get distracted by empty boxes. Or tupperware containers. Or scraps of paper. Or junk mail. Or popped balloons.
If my eyes are on Jesus, I won't be digging through the trash. And I certainly won't be caught chewing on a toilet bowl brush.
Instead, I will experience life like never before. I will open myself up to the "glorious riches" God makes available to me (Philippians 4:19). I will be blown away by all that God does in and through me, so much more than I can ever dare to dream (Ephesians 3:20).
As the apostle Paul so aptly wrote thousands of years ago (without ever having children of his own who dug through his trash cans or played with toilet bowl brushes to help him make this connection),
Yes, everything else is worthless
when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
For his sake I have discarded everything else,
counting it all as garbage,
so that I could gain Christ and become one with him.
I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things
or that I have already reached perfection.
But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.
No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it,
but I focus on this one thing:
Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,
I press on to reach the end of the race
and receive the heavenly prize
for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
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