a little (shaming) goes a long way

 

my second son turned 8 a few weeks ago.  his grandpa is very generous and always sends him some cash to spend as he likes.  yesterday was our shopping trip. 

he had been talking since his birthday party that he wanted to buy his guests presents as thank yous.  i kept telling him that the treat bags mom worked so hard on (and spent some dough on, too) were ample thanks, as well as thank you cards.  well, he was not to be swayed.  i am ashamed to admit that we got into a tearful argument (on both sides) about the spending of his birthday money.  i wanted him to spend his money on himself since he rarely gets to do that, and he wanted to buy a bunch of stuff for others. 

the Holy Spirit spoke volumes to me on our drive to the W.  it is his money, after all, and who the heck am i to squelch his generous heart???  after we arrived in the parking lot, i turned and spoke gently to him, humbly apologizing for my own behavior and asking his forgiveness.  we headed into the store with uplifted hearts and beelined to the toy department.

he picked out some nice gifts for his friends, then went to work looking for himself.  we spent at least 30 minutes in the LEGO aisle.  at the end of the aisle was a Hero Factory kit that had a clearance tag on it "$16.50".”  He thought that was a pretty good deal and asked how much he had left.  we counted it up, and to his dismay, he was too short to get anything for his 3 siblings.  we talked, me on one knee, and him with tears, about what we could do.  i gently suggested that we find out when his friends’ birthdays were, and save up some allowance to buy them gifts on their special days.  his eyes lit up, and we put the items back, then looked for his sibs presents. 

we then did the rest of our shopping and headed to the check-out...

that took a while.  it is the big W, ya know.

i had put my groceries up first, and at the last minute, decided to use the bar to separate out my stuff from his. 

i am so glad i did, because otherwise i would have missed God blessing my son!

we get to his stuff, and by my estimation, he is going to get about $2 in change. 

he got a crisp $10 bill. 

wha???

we looked at the receipt a little closer when we got past the register, and to my surprise, his LEGO toy rang up as $7.  Less than half the price tag.  Clearance item?  who knows... nothing indicated sale on the receipt.

so you ready for a little more shaming of his mama??

we get in the car, talking about how cool it was that his total was less than we expected.  his first thought on this truth sinking in??

“Now I have enough to buy a game for T and C!!! (his friends from the party).”

my son, who has such an issue with anger and what to do with it, didn’t think of himself.  he thought of his friends.  i broke into tears and explained to him how God had blessed him with a generous spirit just like his daddy.  (his mama lacks one)

i love how God takes moments like this one and shows me a glimmer of what is to come in my children’s lives.  this child, this fists balled up in anger, screaming at the top of his lungs that no one loves him, punching walls child, has a generous heart that surpasses any of my expectations. 

i thank God for not letting me miss the moment.