Tonight I took my kids to Chik-fil-a. Not a monumental, blogworthy piece of info, I know. Anyway. I had to go to Wal-Mart to get some items for the church nursery so I went during Paul's small group (which is at my house) and then took the kids to eat. I also got to work on my Beth Moore Bible Study homework while they played...an extra bonus for me!
When I got there I spied a table in prime "kid watching" real estate. So we snagged it and chowed down. Behind me was a little girl and what, I later found out, was her "mother" and "Aunt Sarah". I really thought this odd because when we first sat down the little girl was leaning over into our booth flinging her book and blanket around and the way the mother reacted was totally inappropriate. Not like "abuse" inappropriate, more like "little sister" inappropriate. I kept looking around for the girls mother. Then I finally heard enough of the conversation to figure out that the teenage "child" in the booth was the mother and her "BFF" was Aunt Sarah. I was so disturbed through most of the time we were eating, just listening to the dis-service those "children" were doing to that little girl. The immaturity with which they talked to her and "disciplined" her. They were loud and obnoxious and pre-occupied with their "BFF" conversation. They acted like teenagers...because they were. Every action they took and every word they said was loud for all to hear that "THEY WERE TAKING CARE OF HER CHILD". They made sure they were heard. They made sure it was obvious they were "in charge."
I was not the only one who was noticing these goings on. There was a couple across from me, probably in their 60's, noticing and listening and shaking their heads, not in disgust but in sadness. They too could tell this was a sad situation. To make matters worse when they went out the doors the little girl took off running out the door and straight into the parking lot. Praise the Lord there were no cars coming. Then, perhaps THE most appaling thing of the whole ordeal was that the mother just stood there, yelled for the girl to come back and waited with the car door open, just pointing into the seat that the girl was supposed to be sitting in. The girl literally just stood in the middle of the parking lot. Me and the other couple just sat with our mouths open...literally...watching to see if this child was going to be safe. Finally the girl got into the car and they drove away. The couple and I...literally...breathed a sigh of relief when they drove away.
The couple said a few things to each other and then.....
Abby came bursting through the playroom door wailing and yelled at the top of her lungs, "THE BOYS ARE FIGHTING ME!"
And the couple died laughing. So did I. Leave it to Abby to provide a little comic relief!
Anyway, I just could not help but think how there is such purpose to God's timing and plan. I am, appropriately, studying Beth Moore's Jesus the One and Only, and the lesson tonight (that I was working on at Chik-fil-a...enter God's timing...) was about the impecable timing of God surrounding Jesus' birth. And although Mary was only about 13 or 14 when she had Jesus, it was so divine, so perfect, so timely that people were staring for other reasons and not the fact that she was a teenage mother.
For once, tonight I was actually happy to be...ahem...30...years...old...ahem. I was thankful that I was a more mature mother, that I followed God's plan for my life and my family. Thank you God for timing, thank you God for Your perfect plan.
No comments:
Post a Comment