my sons: both pharisees in their own little ways

A few days ago, we had a very rare day: Noah and Samuel were angels! Both of them. On the same day. I in no way mean to seem as though I have no faith in my boys to obey but, let’s be honest, this rarely happens. It was like a day of bliss where I finally saw a glimmer of hope that all these years of correction have somehow “stuck”.

Yes- they were rewarded. I had a B1G1 free coupon for blizzards so I took them for a treat. They shared a blizzard (M &M, if you’re curious) and they even got their own cups (that’s a big deal around here!).

They were very curious to know: “Why the treat?” I replied, as I normally do, that “Obedience brings blessings and disobedience brings consequences.”

Here’s where it gets funny.

You could almost see Noah’s joy fill up inside of him to the point that it overflowed into a prayer of praise. I’m not kidding- at all. He exclaimed: “Oh thank you, Lord, that I obeyed! Thank you for this wonderful ice cream. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!”

Sammy followed suit, in his Sammy way. A little background: one of their favorite shows right now is The Storykeepers, which tells about many of the stories found in the gospels. One of them tells the story of the pharisees and how they prayed so that others would see them. Not even missing a beat, Sammy exclaims:

“Thank you, Lord, that I am not like other men. I fast and give a tenth of all I earn. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!” And then he said: “That’s my prayer, Noah. You like it?”

I nearly died laughing and then proceeded to explain to Sammy what a pharisee was and why we should strive to not pray in that same manner. It- was- exhausting.