I was prepping for some guests to come over, and I pulled our big metal trash can out of our pantry to make it more accessible.
Somehow, this immediately signaled to my children that the garbage can was now a toy to play with.
From my prep work, I saw them jumping on the foot pedal and slamming the lid up and down.
“Hey, please stop playing with the trash can like that! You’ll break the trash can, or one of you will get hurt.”
Within 5 seconds of me saying that, the howl of pain came.
My daughter’s toe got a nice little cut from the foot pedal on the trash can, which started bleeding all over the floor.
I immediately stopped what I was doing, helped her get comfortable, cleaned up the mess, and cuddled with her after putting the band-aid on.
My heart was filled with compassion for this cute little girl who just wanted to have fun, ignored mom’s warnings, and now had to deal with the painful consequences.
I imagine that our Heavenly Father feels this to an even greater degree.
He sees us downplaying commandments, skipping the small but essential things, and placing our value in things that don’t last.
And yet what does He do?
“But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.” (Lamentations 3:32)
He has compassion for us in our self-inflicted suffering.
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
