A Scraped Knee And Lesson

There is a little splash pad not far from where we live. We went for the second time today. The first time we went Chloe was slow to warm up, which is normal for her. I had my doubts about today, because it was just her and one of her favorite friends, Sammy. There were no bigger kids to encourage her to get wet and have fun. This resulted in Chloe wanting Mommy to "come on!" Finally, the mommies decided to get a little wet and it made for a very enjoyable time for the little ones.

Then Chloe fell. As always, it looked worse than it was, but it did result in the worst scraped knee she has had to date. She also has little scrape on her cheek. And Mommy has a tummy ache. Do you feel me, mommas? That ick in the pit of your stomach when something happens to your little one. We praised Jesus all the way home and that helped immensely, but when I asked her if she had fun at the splash pad, all she said was "boo boo." I got very serious and said this, "Chloe, I know that you fell and hurt yourself. But that does not take away from the fun time you had. Remember how you ran through the rainbow and got soaking wet? Remember how much fun you had?"

I smell a lesson for me in this. This morning, before we even left for the splash pad, I was reading in I Kings chapter 9. The Lord appears to Solomon and says, amongst other things:

I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.

As for you, if you walk before me in integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, 'You shall never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.' - I Kings 9:3-5

Here's what I find so interesting. God refers to King David as being upright and having integrity of heart. In fact, David is known as a man after God's own heart. Now, I don't know about you, but I just read First and Second Samuel, so I know that King David fell at the splash pad. He stole a man's wife, and then had the man killed. Not the first thing that springs to mind when you think of integrity, right?

What a relief to know that when God looks back on our lives and choices, He chooses to see the good in us. He chooses to remember the good times instead of letting the poor choices define how He thinks of us. We could do well to follow suit. Everyone makes mistakes. What God wants to see, is us picking ourselves up, vowing to WALK instead of run, and continuing to enjoy our lives and trust Him. Isn't that what David did? I hope in the example of the splash pad, that Chloe will literally do that. And in my life, I pray that I would learn from my mistakes, and choose better for the future, but not allow my life to be defined by them and not put a crick in my neck looking over my shoulder dwelling on them.