I was four years old when it happened.
Friends and I took turns on the various swings and chattered away when I forgot my mom’s constant warning: “Never walk in front of the swings; always walk behind them as far as you can get.”
I walked in front of a swing and POW. I got kicked in the mouth. The next thing I knew, I was lying on my back, my face hurting with a pain worse than anything I could remember.
The house with the swing set belonged to a plastic surgeon and his wife. The doctor stayed calm as he whispered to me to hold the ice against my mouth. He placed me in the passenger seat of his car and drove the short distance to his office. Then he carried me in, all the while speaking softly and calmly to me.
“Have you watched your mom sew? That’s just what I’m going to do—sew up where you hurt, so it gets all better. Hold as still as you can, and this won’t hurt a bit.”
He was right. It didn’t hurt then. But when the sutures touched a part of my face that wasn’t numb, it tickled. My mouth hurt later—enough to help me listen carefully to my parents and obey them. I also learned to listen carefully to God.
Our parents’ instructions show us how to avoid being hurt and the correct way to live. God also wants to keep us from error and lead us in the right way. He wants us to read His Word and get to know His Son, Jesus.
When have you ignored warnings or instructions from your parents and God and been hurt? What decisions are before you? Seek wise guidance from God’s Word.
How can you avoid getting kicked in the mouth?
(Photo courtesy of pixabay.)
(For more devotions, visit Christian Devotions.)
Laurie Herlich followed the Lord’s leading across the country to the promised land of Northeast Tennessee. There she writes cozy mysteries and devotions in a converted garden hut situated in her back yard.