Testing the waters...

Ahh the "little white lie".

When I was a kid, my sisters told me there were people hiding under my bed that would grab my arms or legs if I let them hang off. My Grandma Becksvoort told me that if I held my pee inside for too long my bladder would explode. My mom told me if I sat to close to the TV my eyes would go bad...the list could go on. But, I think there comes a time when those little white lies just don't work anymore. Maybe you just grow up, and realize for yourself what the truth really is, or maybe you test the lie and find out the truth a little faster. As for me, I NEVER tested what people said. I never let my feet or arms hang off my bed, I went to the bathroom ASAP, and I didn't sit in front of the TV. Needless to say, I was a pretty easy kid, never testing the waters.

Now, fast forward to today. I am a mom who will admit to her share of "the little white lies". I have to say though that mine are all harmless(unlike some older siblings I know....Lynae & Heidi...) and so far things have worked out for the better because of them too=)! But today, I saw my oldest testing me, and my "little lie". All day today I was after my boys to clean up the basement, it was a mess after the weekend. I'm talking every toy possible on the floor, and I want to teach them to how to take care of their things. I finally started to see some progress in the late afternoon, when I all of a sudden heard Jason yelling for me to come down quick. There were my boys all huddled over something on the floor...a spider. So here it came, my chance to get a little fire burning under them to have that motivation to clean up. So I said, "see what happens when you leave your toys on the floor? Bugs come in and want to play with them, he's probably checking out what toy he wants to take home to share with his buddies, I'll take care of him, but you better get these toys picked up before his buddies come." AND wouldn't ya know it, my boys got that basement cleaned up in record time! Call it bad parenting if you want, I call it achievement!!! After they got it cleaned up, I went back down to check, and there was a little pile of toys in the middle of the floor, nothing special, just some old half broken toys. So I asked Jason what that was about, and here is what he said, "those toys are for the spiders buddies, I don't want them anymore, they can bring them home."

After my deep explanation that the spiders buddies will not come, and that mommy was just "kidding", I realized my days with little white lies might be over. The Lord has blessed me with little testers.