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Watch what God does...

"This is ridiculous. I'm sick and tired of all this" Hearing the words come from my 7-year old gave me a sick feeling in my stomach. I wonder where she picked that up, I wonder, as my wife tells me that I say that a lot. I guess I thought when my kids were picking their nose and making tents out of blankets, it meant they didn't hear what I was saying. But I guess my kids are multi-taskers. I'm so proud they have the ability to pick up my bad habits while inventing some of their own.

This is different from the fun things I teach my kids to say. It only took my using the word hybrid 'ridonculous' for one morning before I had them using it. Or how I've taught them that the proper reaction to a heavenly baked good is to allow your eyes to roll back into your head while rubbing your tummy and saying mmmmm. But what about the stuff I'm inadvertently teaching them?

It got me thinking about what Paul says in Ephesians 5:1 "Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents." Perhaps Forrest Gump wasn't far off when he said that 'stupid is as stupid does'. I think that stupid does can quickly become stupid gets repeated.

But it also makes me wonder how often I stop what I am doing to watch what God is doing. It seems I am not quite the multi-tasker that my children are. I need to take more breaks from my activities to see what God is doing. After all, God is exemplifying proper behavior, if only I'll take pause and learn.
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