Partners in Parenting

“Identifying the Source!”

This morning, I woke up hearing two “chirps” that sounded distant and muffled, but I could clearly hear them.  I began to investigate the one that I was pretty sure I knew.  I let the dog out, stood in the doorway for five seconds, and, “Yep, I nailed that one! It is a robin waking up the neighborhood.”  It only sounded muffled because I was inside the house.

Now for the other sound…  It was a faint chirp that sounded like a smoke alarm battery going dead, or an appliance alarm, or a cell phone going dead, or a malfunction of some kind of electrical item?????  It chirped about every 30 seconds.  I walked all over the house listening for the source of the chirp, but I couldn’t find it.  I stood by every smoke detector and listened, but the chirp would come from another location.  I just couldn’t nail down the exact location (and I’d been at it for over 10 minutes).  I had some papers to file down in the basement so I went down to the file cabinet.  There it was…but louder than before.  Hah, I was going to solve the mystery.  Well, I finally did.  It was the carbon monoxide detector that I keep in the furnace room.  The batteries were going dead, and that was my notification.  I finally identified the source, but it took quite some time.

This whole situation reminded me of how easy and hard it can be to identify sin.  I had no problem recognizing the chirp of a bird which was outside, but I had trouble recognizing the chirp of the alarm that was inside.  Kind of like how I can sometimes find the sin in others much more easily than I can find the sin in myself.  Seeing other people’s faults and sins is like identifying the robin this morning (easy), but seeing my own faults is like identifying the source of the chirp inside the house (difficult).  During Lent, we are to focus on our sinfulness, not others sinfulness, in expectation of the forgiveness that each of us freely receives each day.

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”  Matthew 7:3

Family Discussion Points!

Whistle a song or make a sound, and play a game trying to identify the song or sound!

Why do we tend to see other people’s sin instead of our own?

Can each family member mention a sin they struggle with?  (not obeying right away, talking too much, not showing love and care for others, dishonesty, etc.) --- that’s HARD!