Comstock Chronicles: Being the Policeman

Benny was upset about having to stay out of the kitchen while lunch preparations were underway. He grabbed the side of the domino bucket and scattered them across the wooden floor. This greatly distressed Lee because we have a rule that when quiet time is over the children must clean up their space regardless of who made the mess in it. Benny was scattering dominos in Lee's quiet time space. So Lee ran over and grabbed Benny around the middle. He wrenched the now empty domino basket out of Benny's hands and rolled over on the floor with him squealing in his arms. 

In the meantime I was giving commands that fell on deaf ears. "Leave Benny alone!" "I see what he's doing!" "Don't touch Benny!" "Get your hands off him!" "Stop being the police!" "I will take care of it!"

Finally the uproar died down enough for Lee to hear me. 

"I hate it when you say I'm the police!" he shouted at me.

I tried to explain. "Lee, I see what Benny is doing. It's going to be Benny's job to pick up these dominos. I will see that he does that. You don't have to. You can tell me, 'Mommy! Look what Benny's doing!' But when you police Benny, you steal my job from me. I can't do it anymore! Now Benny needs comfort. You've got to stop yourself from running in and doing my job. Let me do it!"

And with that, I helped Benny pick up the dominos, wondering how many time I'd stolen God's job away from him.

"So what makes you think God won't step in and work justice for his chosen people, who continue to cry out for help? Won't he stick up for them? I assure you, he will. He will not drag his feet. But how much of that kind of persistent faith will the Son of Man find on earth when he returns?" (Luke 18:7-8 MSG)