James and I are reading John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress over a period of two years as suggested by the lovely advisers at Ambleside Online. In our reading this week, Christian (the pilgrim who is progressing) has met another progressing pilgrim named Faithful. Faithful tells him about his encounter with someone named Adam the First, who dwells in the town of Deceit. This guy Adam has three daughters: The Lust of the Flesh, The Lust of the Eyes, and The Pride of Life, and offers Faithful a chance to marry all of them. I explained to James that the names of these 3 daughters come from a passage in 1 John and we talked about examples of each.
James then says, “I don’t think you’re like that daughter Lust of the Eyes at all.”
How encouraged I felt. My son sees me as pure and not tempted by worldly things.
And then he went on, “You know how there’s those Pro-Active commercials? You’re not like those women. You don’t care about that stuff on your face. You don’t care what you look like.”
My, my, my, how one can go from feeling honored in one moment to humbled in the next.
Her children rise up and call her blessed. ~ Proverbs 31:28
Isn’t it amazing to hear their perspective?
James is my little conscience sometimes. One thing about him is that he hasn’t been taught to be PC. He says it as he sees it and he doesn’t say it to offensive on purpose. I was humbled by his statement because I probably do need to care more about how I look in this area. I’m still battling the bumps and redness that broke out during my pregnancy with Grace over 5 years ago. Of course, the reason I say No to the Pro-Active solution…well, you would understand why. It’s not exactly a natural product. But still, James sees me everyday and nobody knows who I really am like he does.
Last night we went to see the “African Cats” movie. It followed a year in the life of a pride of lions and a mother cheetah and her cubs. Cheetahs are independent loner animals. After we watched the mother cheetah raise her cubs to young adults, the narrator said that now that the training was done, they would all go their separate ways. James leans over to me and says, “When my training is done, I don’t want to lose my mother. You know why? Because you’re good company.” See? The honesty isn’t always so convicting. Sometimes it just warms my little ol’ heart. I’m so grateful for him. [I’m probably going to tell this little story in a post, so get ready for me to repeat myself.]
Oh! You definitely need to share this story in a post. It is beautiful and real! I love it!
I’m just peeking in again to say “Hello!” I want to read “Pilgrim’s Progress with my little
ones soon. I just haven’t gotten around to it. The first time I ever read it was three years ago. It is now listed as one of my favorite books!