Do you believe in luck?
5 minute read
Fridays are Show and Tell at school.
After an eye-opening conversation with a lovely, wise, fellow kinder-boy mom and friend about resisting the urge to remind Field of this every Friday and let him forget, I decided to take the complete opposite route and not only remind him, but force my idea upon him.
Cannot with myself.
Earlier in the week, I found a 4 leaf clover in our backyard. So cool, right? Thursday night, I showed it to Field and said, “Wouldn’t this be a fun thing to take for Show and Tell tomorrow?”
He replies graciously, “Yeah, it’s cool, but Mom I want to take my PeeWee Baseball Trophy instead and take this another week.”
I persist and manipulate with, “Really? But you can take the trophy any week. Since we pulled this 4-leaf clover out of the ground, it will wilt pretty quickly. If you want to take it, tomorrow is probably the best day to do it.”
Still not convinced, he says, “Ok maybe.”
Friday morning rolls around, and Field says he wants to take his baseball trophy. I have only had 4 sips of coffee when this news hits my ears, and I’ve just been in the Bible, so by God’s grace MC the Hyper Mom had not made her appearance just yet and my grace-filled response was, “For sure. Let’s do it.”
We grab the trophy, and he says, “Wait. Mom. Is this made of metal? What is this made of? This doesn’t feel like metal.”
I respond, “It’s not metal but it’s a super cool, strong plastic!” LOL. Who says that?
He’s onto me. “Ohhh no. I’m not taking this. Plastic?!”
After thinking all of these thoughts at one time...
Thought 1: Annnnnnd I’m back in the game. 4-leaf clover comin’ in hot.
Thought 2: I am so impressed with his ability to acknowledge when something is cheaply made.
Thought 3: Wait, am I raising a snob?
Thought 4: Go get the clover woman your window is closing.
… I respond, “Ok! Let’s get that clover!”
Then we talk about the 3 facts about the clover he will present to the class for Show and Tell.
“Ok first, this is a 4 leaf clover. Second, my mom found it in the backyard. Hmm… what’s another fact?”
To which I reply, “It means good luck!” I felt the Holy Spirit check me on this, and I ignored it, and before you think I’m a fun-sucking ninny I promise there’s a point. Hang with me.
So the three “facts” are set, we’ve got a creative Show and Tell on deck (said she modestly), and things are looking up.
I walk into the kitchen where the very wilted clover sits on the windowsill. I ideate outloud how to make this transport work, and Gup gently suggests putting scotch tape all around it. That was one of my ideas too (Not saying this for accolades, saying this as foreshadowing. Does it count as foreshadowing if you explain it? Probably not.), and I went to work.
If you’ve met Field, you know he’s all up in your biz. He is Mr. Chatty-chat-chat, enthusiastic, fun-loving, nosey, persistent, opinionated and more.
So I’ve got the above 6 year old at my left elbow as I try to “laminate” the wilty clover with scotch tape, and I feel Field’s breath on my hands as he asks 11 questions at a proximity so close I am confused as to whether he needs glasses or a muzzle, and when he accidentally bumps my elbow as I stick this fragile piece of grass on the tape, what one might call the 4th leaf (aka the star of the show) just rolls into itself.
To which I graciously respond, “Field! GO AWAY!”
ALERT! ALERT! HYPER MOM HAS ARRIVED. HIDE YA KIDS, HIDE YA WIVES!
Without so much as the bat of an eyelash from me, he sulks out of the kitchen, and I see this project continue to go horribly awry as my fingers get stuck in the dang tape and the leaves that need to move won’t unroll. The stem is in an awkward position and you can no longer tell this is a clover, much less one with the esteemed 4 leaves.
Still though, I persist and start coaching silently to myself, “You can do this Mary Clay. Make it work.” This dialogue quickly turns into, “Whose stupid idea was this anyway?” (Remember the foreshadowing?) And the once-silent dialogue now slips out of my mouth, “UGH! Crawford! This was the worst idea. Oh yeah, sure just tape it up! Tape wilted plant leaves into scotch tape! What could go wrong?!”
At this point I hear Crawford talking Field back into the baseball trophy, completely ignoring the crazy, babbling woman in the robe with a bad case of turrets in the kitchen, and it is at this moment I realize my 4-leaf clover surgery has failed… and so has my parenting.
It’s now my turn to sulk into the living room, and I get down eye level with Field to say, “Buddy. Mommy messed up. I should not have told you to go away - that was totally mean and uncalled for, and I need your forgiveness. Secondly, this clover is toast, mommy messed it up too, but I kinda think it’s a good thing. Do you remember how mommy told you this clover was good luck? Yeah, so the third thing I need forgiveness for is that was actually not a true fact.”
“So you lied?! And you wanted me to lie too?!” The future thespian cries in disbelief.
“Essentially, yes. And I’m sorry, I was wrong, and here’s why: There’s nothing in this world that can bring you luck. It’s a silly thing a lot of people believe, and while it’s pretty harmless and mostly just for fun, I don’t want you to think anything here brings you luck because blessings in our lives do not depend on luck. They are given out of God’s grace not out of this world. I also ignored the Holy Spirit telling me not to tell you it meant good luck, and I shouldn’t have ignored Him either. ”
It takes him a minute, but Field has a heart of *gold* and eventually says, “Ok Mommy. I understand. I forgive you.”
You might be thinking a lot of things, so let me try to guess them and address them:
First, you might be thinking “That was way harsh, Tai.”
All my 90s girls just got that reference, but for the rest of you whom I love, what I mean is you might be thinking it’s wayyyy too intense and pretty legalistic to start telling a 6 year old not to believe in luck.
And I totally get that.
I distinctly remember my dad saying, “There’s no such thing as luck!” when I was a young girl, and I found this to be fun-sucking and slightly confusing especially considering we had a bunny named Lucky? Although in retrospect, maybe that was a lesson in irony because ain’t nobody thinking that bunny was lucky considering she (he?) made it a grand 4? 5? months before retiring to the “bunny farm.”
But likely in the same vain my dad told us luck wasn’t real, I want to plant the seed for Field that there’s nothing in this world that has any real, lasting power. Not a clover, not a penny, not a deal, not a promotion, not a credential.
Yes, some of the latter examples do have power in the sense they could get you further in a career or up the success ladder, but when we’re talking about REAL, lasting, SOUL SAVING things - nope. Field will spend a lot of his life being wooed by the world and its shiny things left and right, but if we can teach him somewhere deep down in his soul to focus on the Giver of the good things… not the good things, that’s heavenly gain.
A second thing you might be thinking is “Yoosh, what a wordy, heavy conversation to have with a 6 year old, and I’m not really believing he retained it and responded like he did.”
I completely agree with the first part, but the truth is that I don’t have the skills a lot of you amazing moms do to relay real world things in kid-speak, so I tend to talk to Field in the only way I know how, and that is to just tell the truth even if it takes me a minute to get there. As for the latter part, we have a pretty incredible 6 year old boy with depth of Spirit all by God’s grace (not luck!) because it CLEARLY has nothing to do with my turrets parenting tactics.
In an effort to drive it home, the Holy Spirit gave me this thought in preparation for the post:
When we give power to the world, the world takes power over us.
When we give power to something as miniscule as a 4-leaf clover, who’s to say we won’t give power to the other messages the world gives us when things get heavy? When we give power to the world, we might start to believe God’s love for us is equated to what the world says are good, shiny things and our amount of them. We lose track of the Giver of the good things, and we start confusing real, lasting, good things with temporal things.
So what are some of the things God gives us that are good and lasting?
He gives us the Fruits of the Spirit by way of the Holy Spirit:
Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Goodness
Gentleness
Self-Control
Faithfulness
Luck doesn’t give us these things. God gives us these things. Spending time in the Word gives us these things. Also… suffering gives us these things.
It is all backwards and upside down from what culture tells you is good and lasting!
Sometimes we mess up and we give power to the world. Heck I did it this week, big time! And do you know what it did?
It crushed me.
I wept. I felt helpless and hopeless and abandoned by the Lord.
And then the morning came.
And his new mercies overwhelmed me. He reminded me of all the good, lasting things in my life. Days where we can feel darn “unlucky” or even forgotten due to unmet expectations or an unfulfilled desire will continue to happen until we are made complete in Him in Paradise. Until then though, we can speak truth to ourselves that He still loves us and that whatever He is doing or withholding, He is doing for our good and His glory.
All of these promises are good and lasting... and not one of them comes from a 4-leaf clover ;)
God, you are so GOOD. Your richness of love, grace, and mercy far surpass our human concept of favor and blessing. All you do, you do in love. All you do, you do in thoughtful, meticulous, creative, considered ways so much higher than our own. Let us remember this when we are weak in our flesh, Lord! For you promise your power is made perfect in our weakness. So let us not be too proud to kneel at your cross and admit this weakness! It is to our gain to lay down our lives to follow you. We forget it though, God. And it can be hard down here. Remind us you’re with us, you’re for us, and you’ve got things beyond our wildest imagination waiting for us in heaven with you. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
Suggested Scripture this week:
S/M: Lamentations 3:22-23
What new morning mercies do you notice today?
T: 2 Corinthians 12:9
Have you ever experienced God’s power made perfect in your weakness?
W: Galatian 5:16-26
What are the stark differences between the works of the flesh and the fruits of the Spirit?
Th: Colossians 3:2
What are things above you upon which you can set your mind?
F: Psalm 131
Use this verse as a prayer and write down anything that comes to mind.
S: Psalm 4:6-7
Do you believe God gives greater joy than anything on earth can give?