The Bible is in Jail

If you came and lived with us for a while, it would not be very long and you would hear Johnny say  something like this, "Why are there so many toys down here? There are two rooms upstairs for all of this stuff. Why does it end up down here?" Obviously, our children aren't very good with taking the toys back up after playing with them. It is hard to find that balance--letting them freely play without nagging all the time about the mess. I have tried different things over the years and I must say, that today's effort may just work! Thanks to Pinterest, we now have a clutter jail. If it gets left downstairs, it goes to jail. In order to get it out, you must do an act of kindness or clean something up. Here is what has been put in jail so far today...

The funny thing, when I introduced the concept to the kids, John Gannon gets all excited. He goes upstairs and brings one of his daddy's Bibles downstairs. He put it in jail and says, "There...Daddy left his Bible upstairs by my Wii. " Needless to say, the next few days should be interesting at our house!

When Johnny discovered his Bible was in jail, he started justifying that his Bible wasn't clutter, etc. I couldn't help but think that is exactly what we do in life. We are always quick to have a defense, rationale or reason for our actions, but for someone else...well, they are just wrong. We have such a tendency at looking at the outward actions of others and really being critical and just downright harsh. But, when it comes to us, well... those rules seem to change. For most of us, the rules change because when we consider our actions, we have the full story...that is what is lacking when we consider others' actions. I suppose that is why Jesus said he looks at the heart or inside of us. He goes deeper than just our outward actions--he looks at our intent, motivation, and desires. Oh me...to be honest, sometimes my outward "right" actions are not congruent with my heart. The truth is, we are all fallen creatures in need of God's grace. I guess it would help us out if we chose to show others grace more often. Maybe it would help our Bibles from getting put in jail...