What a lunch time today! I was taking my dad to the ophthalmologist and thought he might like a light lunch before heading that way. Mayberry is normally a rather sane place to dine. But on this occasion I was wrong! In the booth behind me, there was a mother, two little boys, and a grandmother. One little fellow’s name was Conner, and the other’s was Charlie. Conner was the younger of the two…..maybe two years old. Charlie was about three. And Charlie was not a happy camper. I am not sure what got him in the “mood” he was in but something was not right! He began yelling and screaming….his mother was saying stuff like, “Calm down Charlie. You can’t act like that Charlie. Are we going to have to eat our ice cream outside, Charlie?!” I was about to join in and vote for Charlie to be put on the roof to play, but then he stopped yelling. But then he started other stuff. The grandmother said, “Charlie, you should not have poked me with that fork. It hurt. If you had hit my eye instead of my arm, we would be going to the hospital right now…” Then it was, “Charlie, sit down….Charlie, quit picking….” I was just about fit to be tied. Now don’t get me wrong, my sons did behave like that from time-to-time, but I did not sit in a restaurant and let them continue to go nuts. I used to get up and take them out of the restaurant. Depending on the reason for the behavior, some kind of punishment may have followed. No, not a meeting with “Mr. Belt.” “Time out” usually worked, and delaying it until we got home made the anguish a bit greater. If, however, the behavior was due to exhaustion, I would usually just hold them close and tell then everything was okay and that we would just stay outside together.
I don’t know why Charlie was upset today. He was a cute little guy. He may have had a “burr under his saddle,” for whatever reason. But he may have just been tired. And a tired little guy and a weary mom is a hard setting in which to maintain control.
It’s important to remember in the life of the church that we all get weary. Sometimes we say things or do things that are not very Christ-like. We act like Charlie. We may not even know what triggered our behavior. But we need to remember that the Church is not like the world. It is different. Sometimes we need a self-imposed “time out” in church to help us rest so we can be our best. Imagine, a “time out” in church. What a difference a little peace-filled quiet could make!!
