Grace for the Gaps

“Guys, you can let go. Let go of the cart.”
We were picking up a few groceries on a muggy summer afternoon. Thunder rumbled outside, the crescendo of rain harmonizing Target’s roof with a relentless beat.
Rain poured down as my well of patience dried up.
We’d had a late night followed by an early morning as my hubby headed to Jacksonville at 6 am. My night owl ways weren’t meshing well with getting up early for VBS, and the lack of sleep didn’t bode well for my daily supply of patience.
I tried to ignore the 57 and 52-pound anchors randomly tugging on either side of the shopping cart.
“Boys, you can let go.” (Was that my voice or an animal growling on aisle 7?)
Thankfully Cole heard and let go of the cart, but Chase’s hand didn’t budge. Unbalanced, we veered sharply in Chase’s direction.
Lord, please help me be nice to my children today. I closed my eyes as Chase’s hand continued squeezing the edge of the reddish-orange shopping cart.
Hrmf. Just let go, son!
We’d started our shopping excursion on the Lego aisle – surprise – and we were heading to books. Passing all things Lightning McQueen and the summer clearance aisles, I tried maneuvering the cart forward.
Instead I found myself nearly crashing into an end cap with newly released DVDs. I tried not to glare at Chase’s guilty right hand as it gripped the cart like an octopus tentacle.
My thoughts drifted to the Florida Aquarium…
Yet I had no right to scold them. After all, I allowed Cole and Chase the freedom to walk next to me in stores from the time they were toddlers. I wanted them to learn to stay close-by even when they were physically separate from me.
Freedom with boundaries.
I also taught them to grab onto the side of the cart as we moved from aisle to aisle, or from check-out line to the parking lot. It made life easier for me and safer for them. So for most of their lives, it’d been drilled into them to cling carefully to the cart.
Now, at the age of 5 and 7, they’re pretty good about staying in close proximity to me and the cart.
Tentacles…
That afternoon we were nearly alone in the large store. Chase didn’t need to cling to the cart, but the training he received from his toddler years was part of who he was, affecting his actions and the choices he made.
“Only be careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.” ~ Joshua 22:5