It was a gorgeous Spring Saturday. The house was quiet and turned out to be a wonderful day to clean. Shane and Kristina were gone and it was just me and Gabe who was around 3ish at the time. As he played with his matchbox cars and trucks running them up and down the walls, in and out of furniture and ramming them into the couch I cleaned.
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And boy did I clean! I mixed bleach in a bottle with water and was bleaching my house! Have you ever done that? Oh, it makes me feel so much better. I am worn out at the end of the night but I sure do feel better and my house seems to even feel better. But, anyway, I was taking the knobs off the stove, scrubbing the refrigerator shelves, washing rugs, wiping down baseboards, I guess I was Spring cleaning!
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I sat my bleach/water mixture on the counter because I had to run outside for just a moment but I pushed it far up against the wall. "Gabe," I said "don't touch this bottle right here...I'll be right back!" I made sure to have eye contact with him because after all, he's a boy and unless there is eye contact all he hears is blah blah blah (heehee). "Yeff ma'am" he answered.
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As I came back in the house Gabe was sitting on the floor in the living room playing with his cars. As he spun towards me I noticed that his cute blue t-shirt had white splatters all over it. I snatched him up and immediately started smelling him.
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"Did you touch that bottle?" I asked.
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He popped back quickly with "No ma'am."
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I started looking him over head to toe and noticed that his eyes were watering. I sat him down, walked into the kitchen and noticed that the bottle had been moved. As I walked back around the corner I asked him again "Gabe, did you touch that bottle?"
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"But, Mommy, I didn't touch it or even spray it on me...don't you believe me?" he said.
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"No!" I answered as I picked him up and walked into the kitchen to wash his eyes out with water.
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For days after that incident I would ask him if he messed with that bottle and bless his little heart he always stuck to his story! And, every single time I told him that I didn't believe him. To this day Gabe loves for me to tell him that story. Gabe wants to make sure that in whatever he does that you believe him. As he has gotten older he makes sure that his facts are in order before he tells a story. Honesty has become very important to him...thank goodness!
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Oftentimes as Christians we run into people who don't "believe" us. I am learning that I can't make anyone believe me. There is nothing I can say to them, there is nothing that I can do...it is only God that can turn their hearts. "There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son." John 3:18 (NLT). Watching someone you love make poor choices and decisions (like spraying bleach on themselves) is hard to do. But, as their friend, all we can do is wash their eyes out and keep reminding them that He is the answer! If only they BELIEVE!
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