50 Years

One effective way to uncover the true priorities of a child's heart is to catch him off guard by saying something completely unexpected and ridiculous.

After church today, my husband and I both laid down for a few moments of rest.  Before 30 seconds had passed, our 5-year old began banging on our door shouting, "When are you going to come out?"

My beloved jokingly replied, "Oh...maybe in about 50 years."

Then our 5-year old shouted, "50 years?  Are you crazy?"

I waited for him to ask questions of practical concern such as:

• What do you have in there to eat that will last you 50 years?
• How will Daddy work and pay the bills?
• Who will take care of us?

Instead, he was more concerned about Christmas.  He shouted, "You're going to miss a lot of Christmases.  You are going to have a WHOLE lot of presents to open when you come out!"

Forget the practical needs, people, it's all about the presents in his mind.  We have more parenting work to do than I had realized.