Matthew is taking tennis lessons with 4 other kids at the local park and we're almost done with this set of lessons. He's doing great and wants to continue playing, but it's going to get cold soon, so we must move indoors to play. Anyway, we had a very interesting conversation tonight.
There is one other boy in the group who tends to be extremely wound-up for the lessons. So much so that his mom just leaves because she can't stand to watch. He makes Matthew crazy because when they are paired up, this other little boy (Joshua) hits the ball so high into the air that there's no way Matthew can hit it back to him. That's the background you need for this conversation.
We're in the car...
M: Joshua makes me crazy all I do is chase balls for him. (He continues for a few minutes with this same complaint.) What should I do? I don't want to hit with him.
Me: Well....is there anything in the Bible or that you've learned in Sunday School that could help?
M: Yeah, I can't wait until I get to hit to him-I'm going to hit the ball to the other end of the court! Cause Jesus said, "Do unto others as you would have them do to you." so he must WANT me to make him run.
Me: Ok that's one way to look at it. Jesus also said we must forgive each other 70 times 7 times.
M: How many is that?
Me: A lot...too many to count.
M: Hmph! I'll just count really high and then hit the ball back to him REALLY hard and REALLY high.
Me: I think what Jesus meant was that we were to forgive each other as much as He forgives us, since we're supposed to be trying to act like Jesus all the time.
M: (Sigh-very dejected) I guess I'm going to be chasing a LOT of balls, then.
Me: And getting lots of exercise - that's a good thing.
M: I guess so.
I love that Matthew is able to think through this stuff. What a hard lesson to learn and relearn and relearn and relearn! For me anyway, this is one that I continue to work on - especially with those people who do the same thing over and over and over again. I guess I'll continue to 'chase balls' with my little guy!
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He is such a smart and logical little guy! I love it how he is able to articulate his feelings SO well. It must be all that reading and great conversation he is getting!
ReplyDeleteWhen you write out a conversation like that it seems like it only takes a few minutes to get through it. This one lasted about 10 minutes...I just boiled it down and took out most of the sighs and complaints. It all has to be logical for Matthew. He's so like his daddy in that it's ridiculous!
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