Things aren’t always what they appear.

Things aren’t always as they appear. Two incidents come to mind:

1. When Kate was little (I’m thinking 2 or 3) there was one night that she just wouldn’t stay in bed. Multiple times we checked on her and she would be up playing or looking out the window. I finally got very upset with her. Now I wasn’t bright enough to pick up on the fact that she was a little angel and never did that sort of thing. The next time I opened her door, there she was in the middle of the floor crying and holding her head with her hand. By this time, her fever was evident and come to find out she had a serious ear infection and lying down was causing her discomfort. Brilliant move, Dad. Things aren’t always as they appear.
2. Recently we had an incident at dinner time where Joshua was on the floor screaming at Buster, one of our dogs, who was under the table eating something. I was furious because Josh is always dropping food and the dogs have learned that often they will get a nice little treat if they hang around the boy’s chair. As I barked at Josh to get back in his seat, I noticed that he was crying and still yanking Buster away from underneath the table. Torn between frustration that my son was fighting the dog over spilled food and confusion as to why the spilled food was cause for tears, I demanded an explanation from my boy. With chest heaving and tears streaming down his face, he told me “it’s chocolate Daddy and I don’t want Buster to die.” Reality slapped me in the face that my son’s motives weren’t disobedience towards me and frustration towards the dog but he was trying desperately to save our pet’s life (Josh had learned that chocolate can be harmful to dogs). Things aren’t always what they appear.

So just a reminder when you see something happen or hear a story about someone else, just remember, Things aren’t always what they appear.