Okay, so this is actually a scene from The Simpsons television show and not the movie, but hey, blogger’s privilege or something like that. Anyway, I don’t know about all of you out there who probably have perfect families, but as for me… well, something came up recently that reminded me how much, even though I love my own brood with every fiber of my being, I can’t help sometimes but feel like poor old Homer does in this clip…
And I’m sure they feel the same way about me sometimes. Maybe lots of times.
Now what brought this clip to mind was a conversation I had earlier this week with a fellow Christian who up until recently had never had any real trouble with his children. Oh, don’t get me wrong, he and his wife have had to put up with all the typical things parents have to deal with; the disobedience, the disrespect, the unearned arrogance, the odors… you know, the usual stuff. But now one of their children has begun engaging in activity that lies squarely in mortal sin territory and it has them pretty shaken up. You see, by his own admission, they’ve always held themselves up as a family to emulate, one for others to look at and see how good their own children could turn out if they just raised them with the same strong Christian values found in my friend’s household. But now…
I’m just guessing, but I suppose he felt comfortable discussing this situation with me because I’ve talked with him in the past about some of the difficulties my own family has gone through. We’re Christians, you know, we help one another, or at least listen to one another, when stuff like this happens. And if we’re smart, we also try to discern what God may want us to learn from these types of trials. For my acquaintance, who has always been the one driving off into the clouds with his picture perfect family, he sees his present difficulties as an opportunity to learn some humility and maybe rethink what Christianity does and does not promise you in this life. And as for me, the guy who rarely gets to drive off into the sunset, well… I’m human, so I’ll admit that for just a moment I had a feeling of smug satisfaction over Mr. Perfect’s dilemma. Let him see how the other half feels. But thank God it lasted for no more than a second, because we’re talking about a soul in danger here, and there’s no taking pleasure in that no matter which car that person happens to drive off in.
So if you get a moment, maybe you could say a prayer for my friend and his child as they go through this rough period. After all, when it comes to who needs God in their lives, everybody is one of us.
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