Yesterday, as the kids had gotten home and headed straight for the trampoline instead of their regular routine of coming into the house and releasing backpacks and jackets, I became flustered– down right flustered!
In the moment, I didn’t think about the excitement of the gorgeous Spring day that Jesus delivered to us, but about our routine.
Without realizing it, my son with autism and his “regular routine” pattern had rubbed off on me. I express it over and over in my book about how important a routine for a child with autism (especially younger) is so important and how chaos just doesn’t do well in their precious worlds.
When I make it home from work and have the opportunity to watch them walk off the school bus, knowing these days will go way too fast, I am also eagerly excited to hear the words, “Mom I am hungry” because I get to make them a delicious snack and hear how great a Mom I am! Hey, kids will really praise you when you feed their little bellies!
Anyway, my son came running in the back door, all sweaty, with his good school clothes still on -which again is NOT our normal routine….gosh, we change those good school clothes before jumping on the trampoline.
He walks up to me and says, “Hey Mom, how was your day?” Without realizing it, with a huge frown, I say, “It was good how was your day?” He looked at me and said, “What’s wrong, why are you frowning?” I didn’t think I was frowning. I said, “Oh nothing.” He pulled my face close to him and said, “Mom, turn that frown upside down. Now smile.” In this moment, he refused to continue talking with his very own mother until my attitude changed…OUCH and ouch again!
It made me think later, how many times do I try to visit with Jesus and my attitude is terrible about or toward another person, but yet I still long to have him speak to me. Like me, begin by asking him to show us how our attitude looks to our family, most importantly, and then to the outside world.
My son waited until I turned that frown upside down and when I smiled, gosh, I felt really better and who cares if those kiddos wore their school clothes onto the trampoline and left their backpacks in the driveway…..so with a good attitude, I cherished this teachable moment for myself….What would Jesus say about your attitude today?
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