|
Smith Family | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
HEY,
There are Oxen in My BARN!!!
 |
Recently, I was reading a book called "Apostles, Prophets and the Coming Moves of God" by Dr. Bill Hamon when I came across an interesting statement- "The preacher of old said that the only way to constantly have a clean stall was not to have a live oxen in it (Prov. 14:4)." I had heard this reference towards the church many times, but all of the sudden, it became life for me, a rhema word, in relating to my kids. I had never pictured life with my family in this way. Let me explain...
Have you ever had someone tell you your house is too messy? Or do you feel like you should have this perfect home and it should be a showplace but reality is, you can't seem to ever get it to that place? I have. I had someone tell me that my clutter piles drove them nuts. That they couldn't stand my clutter. This hurt. I am a clean person, but have you ever tried keeping paper clutter, sewing clutter and kid clutter under wraps? I can come away exhausted from trying to manage this everyday. But then the other day, when I was reading my assignment, the above statement just jumped out at me! Wow! I never thought of it this way before, but I have live oxen in my BARN! Real live oxen!!! LOL Well, not really, but the metaphor is great! I have real live KIDS in my House!!! Do you???
I bet if you are reading this, you probably do, or at least you can relate! LOL What does Proverbs say about this exactly...
(NIV) Proverbs 14:4 Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest!
(The Message Bible) Proverbs 14:4 No cattle, no crops; a good harvest requires a strong ox for the plow!
(Amplified Bible) Proverbs 14:4 Where no oxen are, the grain crib is empty, but much increase (of crops) comes by the strength of the ox.
HUMMM.... Think of this... Without the ox, harvesting a major crop is backbreaking. An ox can pull the load of 10 men! Today, we use tractors, but if they stilled used oxen, the load of harvesting a crop would be too much for a man by himself. It takes many beasts of burden to harvest the crops! And when the fields are ripe, we don't want to lose a single grain if we can help it.
God's Kingdom is like this. In the church we need people to harvest the crop that is out there for the Kingdom of God to flourish. Even at home, whether you have one child or 20 children, you are still needing the oxen to harvest the crop. Oh, your harvesters might not be ready for a good 18-22 years, but they will be ready one day to become the full grown oxen for the Kingdom of God and bring in the harvest. Children are not often viewed as an investment for tomorrow, but a burden for today.
But you know what, even a baby ox makes a mess. It poops and makes manure that needs to be cleaned up. This is true with kids in a house. Right now I am talking about physical messes, but even emotional messes come with raising kids. These are things that I have watched the world say that we shouldn't deal with. I hear people complain about changing baby diapers, counting how many they will have to change in the course of the 2-3 years a child wears a diaper. I hear people complain about the messes children make. I know that children can be destructive, trust me I have lost a few things in the course of 17 years of being a parent that I thought were precious to me, but you know what, it was just a thing. I would be more devastated at the lost of one of my children. So the item that I lost pales in comparison to loosing my child!
If I didn't have children, I would have the perfect house. I would have the perfect car. I would be able to do what I want to do. My time would be my own! Have you ever heard any of these? I have. I have heard them from within the church. This always grieves my heart when I hear these things. This is such a worldly attitude from church people nonetheless. I thought we were supposed to be different?!? Children are a blessing, but with blessings come responsibilities!
Raising children is not an easy task, if it was then everybody would be doing it! LOL But back to the oxen. Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians about these same oxen... "For it is written in the Law of Moses, 'Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.' Is it about oxen that God is concerned?" God is not really concerned about the oxen but about the people. If we muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain, depriving it of food, then we are starving the ox. But the funny thing is, if you think about it, if an ox eats, what does he do naturally? He makes manure! LOL So once again another mess! LOL
If we allow our children to grow, they will make messes. A lot of them will be physical messes of toys and stuff left out. Or old papers brought home from school, or how about the newest art project? But how about those messes of relationships between two little girls, one who is bossy and has to be the center of attention while the other feels she is neglected? Or the two little boys who are struggling to be king of the hill? These are messes that have to be dealt with in some way.
People who don't understand this usually don't like kids, or don't have kids of their own to have the experience that brings the understanding. With experience a lot of times comes the ability to understand what is really going on. The person who made the comment to me about my mess does not have children, they aren't even married, so they couldn't understand completely the reason for the messes. And even in trying to keep on top of the mess, if it means sacrificing time with my kids in order to have a perfect home, then it is not the right thing to do.
I have decided that I probably need a sign to hang at my front and back doors that reads...
"Caution...
Real Live Human Beings...
Messes
being made,
Attitudes being adjusted,
Life being lived!!!
Enter at your own risk!!!"
I wonder how people would respond to that? LOL You see if I didn't have oxen in the Barn then I wouldn't have the messes that come with the oxen; so my house would be clean and neat, my car wouldn't smell like a kitty litter box, and I wouldn't have the blessings of the smiles and sweet words from my living and breathing children. Now, I would never want to do without those precious words and smiles... Would you?
04/23/09 06:49:49 PM
