Looking at Christmas lights is TORTURE!

The other night, we went to see the Christmas lights at Cheekwood Botanical Gardens here in Nashville.  I had spent the day making a variety of Christmas sweets, so we took some with us in the car.  As we awaited our entry into the gardens (it was a tad crowded), we gave the girls some sweets to eat in the car.  Then, we finally parked and let our sugared-up kids loose to run along the path to see the lovely lights.  

Except.

Except my 10 year-old was not amused.  

She was cold.

She decided to tell me this approximately every 30 seconds in a voice that sounds like a weak whoopee cushion being stepped on.  

I tried to tell her that she'd warm up if she moved around.  "Let's skip!" I suggested playfully.  But, when Alexis is in this type of mood, every happy word is met with the look of death.  

Our family selfie captures her attitude perfectly.

Still, she managed to traipse ‘round the gardens and keep her whining to a minimum.

Then came the gift shop. 

Ugh.

We stepped inside let her warm her hands a bit.  (You would have thought that it was zero degrees out, but it was only 38 for Pete’s sake.)

Anyway, inside the gift shop, she saw a glowing ball, a stuffed Santa, and a stuffed Christmas bear, (all of which were hideous).  She seemed to want the glowing ball the most and I had to admit it was pretty cool the way it changed colors etc.  But, I said no to everything and we managed to pull her back out to the path to continue our forced march to “enjoy” the lights.

Secretly, I sent Bill back to get the $8 glowing ball thingy so that we could give it to her for Christmas.  (She still has no idea.)

BUT, back on the path, her world was in turmoil.

Now, she wasn’t just “freezing” cold, she was also in tears because she didn’t get anything in the gift shop.

(We are the meanest parents.)

I couldn’t believe that she was crying over not getting some cheap plastic toy. 

I tried to remind her that in less than a week, it would be Christmas day and she would get to open a treasure trove of gifts.  This fact did nothing to console her.

We were finally able to distract her from her mourning with s’mores by the fire pit.  But, once we were back in the car, the quiet tears streamed down her face as she expressed “really wanting” that stuffed Santa she saw. 

(Eye-roll, we didn’t even get her the thing she wanted most when Bill secretly went back to the shop. Oh well.)

This whole scenario has happened before with Alexis and I’ve written about it in almost exactly the same way.  But, the Lord continues to point out the parallel to my own life.

I mean, we took her to look at Christmas lights and make s’mores! There are children in the world who spend their entire day, shoeless, in garbage dumps searching for things to sell so that they can maybe eat a meal that day.  How could she be whining about looking at lights?

Well, it was a tad cold for her little body.  I suppose it wasn’t the most comfortable situation for her.  But, still!

And what is with this crying over not getting what she wants when what she wants is plastic crap, which will make her happy for approximately 82 seconds?! 

Kids are so goofy.

I’m pretty sure that’s what God says to Himself sometimes.

I mean, don’t we do that same thing?  He knows that He’s taking us on a breathtaking journey during which He loves to bless us with all sorts of sweet things, and yet, we whine with the best of them if we face any sort of discomfort.  Furthermore, I know for sure that I’ve cried bitter tears over not getting what I want.  The Lord tries to remind me that He has blessings stored up for me, but that often does little to console me.

You see, I have this tendency to live in the temporal, whining about my circumstances or crying over trivial things.  The cure for this is trust.   Alexis doubted that we loved her because we had placed her in a situation that was uncomfortable and we didn’t give her what she wanted.  

But the truth was, we were with her every step of the way, (she could have drawn near for warmth).  She didn’t get the toy she wanted right then because the timing wasn’t right and we had so much more planned for her.

Draw near to Him, put your hand in His for warmth, look into His eyes and see how He loves you.  Trust His plans for you.  Let’s try to have a whine-free Christmas.  After all, He is with us.