*Would love to have a beautiful, reflective post about my injury…but I’m just not there yet. Continued prayers for quick healing are much appreciated.*

Last Monday I woke up and wasn’t feeling the whole “mommy thing”. We had just come home from a weekend trip. The travel exhaustion + extra chores = “blah” mommy. I wanted to stay under my covers and finish my book…but mommies don’t get that luxury.

I was pretty much a grouch all morning. A trip for lunch to a fast food joint began to turn my day around…but still felt really selfish. (side note: a week later I find myself unable to walk without crutches…what I wouldn’t give to just feel “blah”).

After nap time I decided we were going to redeem the day. Perhaps if we ended on one fun thing the boys would forget all the “blah” parts the morning held.

I pulled out the awesome Scripture memory book, “The Well Versed Family” by Caroline Boykin. I decided to do one of the devotional activities in the back. In order to get my boys interested I said, “Hey do you guys want to do an activity where you could earn $20?” They couldn’t get to the table fast enough!

I grabbed our framed chalkboard and wrote out this verse:

Caroline best describes what we did next:

“Take a moment and explain what the word ‘mediator’ means (in this verse: ‘one who mediates between two parties with a view of producing peace’ or a ‘go-between’)…Ask your kids, how many ‘Gods’ does this verse say there are? How many ‘mediators’ between God & men are there? Who is the mediator?”

We had a great conversation. Even talked about when you buy something at the store, the storekeeper is the mediator between the person who made the item and you, the buyer.

Then I walked them over to the stairs (again, Caroline Boykin’s idea). I told them to pretend that at the top of the stairs is “heaven” where God lives. In order to get the $20 they had to figure out a way to get to the top of the stairs under these conditions:

• Don’t touch the stairs
• Don’t touch the walls
• Don’t touch the railings
• Don’t bring anything with them

It was fun to watch their little minds spin. Trying to come up with the best way to get to the top. Notice my 4-yr-old attempting to “jump” up the stairs!

After throwing around some ideas, my 6-year-old said, “We need Jesus. We could pray for him to carry us up to the top.” He got it…kind of. 

I picked him up on my back and carried him up the stairs (yes, I had the stress fracture but didn’t know it!). To earn the $20 they only needed to ask me to carry them to the top.

For salvation, to reconcile ourselves to God, we need to rely on our mediator…Jesus. We can’t force our way. There is nothing we can do for ourselves. We must rely completely on the work of Jesus to gain access to our Heavenly Father. 

Some commentary on the activity:

-If you don’t have stairs, you can designate a room or couch to be “heaven”. Or you could do the activity when you are outside of the house at a location with stairs.

-No one received the $20, which they were all upset about. Claimed it wasn’t a good activity because there was no winner. So you may want to clarify that there may NOT be a winner.

-My eldest son (without the other boy’s knowledge) did receive $1 for understanding that we need Jesus to be with God.

-My four-year-old threw a tantrum at the end of the activity because he thought from then on he could only go up the stairs if I carried him on my back! We were all upstairs, he was down stairs and he didn’t know how he was going to join us. Poor guy! (make sure you explain once the activity is over they can touch the stairs).

-Loved when my four-year-old got to the top of the stairs. He was soooo excited to “be with God”. He said, “It IS heaven. See!” and he pointed to light shining into the hallway from a bedroom window.

What things do you do when you are having a “blah” mommy day? Would love some more ideas!