A few days later I got up and was trying to get everyone else out of the house on time(hubby had already gone to work)and as I was checking everything, I noticed that the $40 that hubby left on the table was missing. I called him to see if he had laid it somewhere else and he said no, he had left it there. I KNEW then what had happened. Son#2 had stolen it. When I confronted it, he denied it. He then decided to blame his older brother(whose M.O. is NOT stealing but crying to get what he wants)and then proceeded to make up various stories. (In our house, if you tell the truth and fess up about the crime....the "time" is less than if you continue to deny something and we find out later! ) He continued to deny it and then finally after a stare down, he went and got the money and handed it over. I gave him the consequence, I told him it was wrong and he went off on me. He did what he usually does when he doesn't get his way...scream, holler and run around like a 3 year old(he is 14!!) Well, we finally got off and although everything was crazy..we made it out of the house.
Later that day..he came and apologized. We talked some. He told me he had prayed about getting the money. I told him God had actually answered him in two ways. 1. I had offered him a way to earn the money and 2. I had actually by the end of the week decided to stop by CVS and get it for him as a gift(the day he stole the money). He threw his hands up and was very embarrassed. He had decided to take things into his own hands and "take" the money that did not belong to him to get what he wanted instead of taking the honest way out. We talked about trust and waiting (neither of which is his forte').
I thought about that. When we have a need, how often do we "take things into our own hands...only later to see that there was a better way"? If Son#2 had waited, he would have been pleasantly surprised and would have enjoyed the game as a "gift" rather than stealing the money AND had no bad consequences. He didn't think and he didn't trust. I wonder what would happen if we "thought and trusted" before we did things that end up getting us painful consequences? I see that a lot in ministry. People come to us at the ministry centers or at church AFTER they have made some painful mistakes and are reaping the pain! They had acted impulsively and not "waited" for what could have been a more pleasant ending.
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19
