Keys to the kingdom

A person's house is their castle, right? Well maybe not everyone but I feel that if God has blessed me to have a roof over my head and a couple of walls up, then that is my castle and we should take care of it even if it's not where you want to be. Our 14 year son is usually one who keeps up with his stuff so when he told me that he had lost his house keys, that was more shocking than anything. I asked him if he knew where he had his keys last and he said that he opened the door one night after a basketball game and don't know what he did with them after that. I was like, so you did have the keys to open the door and he agreed and said that the keys were probably somewhere in his room.

He always puts them in the same place and this one time, he had missplaced them and so when I told him that he should go and clean up his room to find them, he was not a happy camper. I tried to suggest places where his keys might be and each time I said something, he said that they were not there. My question was this, If you don't know where your keys are, how do you know they are not in the places I suggested? Hmmmm!!!! So our 14 year old thought he had a solution to the lost keys. He said, "Why don't we just go to Wal-Mart and get another set made." I told him that was not the answer and that all he had to do was look for them and they were in his room somewhere.

Each day I'd ask if he found the keys and each day he said no. The days turned into a two week search so I told him that I was coming in his room to help him find his keys. He told me that I didn't have to do that and I told him I'm doing it because I want to. When I walked in his room, he had so much stuff in his closet and I said that we must clean up first just to look for keys. He told me that sounded crazy and I said, "It's like this son, we have to take care of the little things (like a set of keys) and then we can be ruler over many things (keys to the kingdom). " I told him that if we clean up his room and put stuff where it go and get rid of stuff we don't need or use, then I bet your keys will show up. I figured he wasn't gonna get far searching for the keys alone, so I went in his room, sat on the floor and I started on the closet. He kept saying, "Mom, why would my keys be in the closet?" I told him that the more he keeps talking, the more time he keeps wasting and to start on the other side of the room.

Well do you know that when I pulled out all that paper and books out of his closet (and filled up two trash bags of junk), there was his keys. He beamed with joy like he had just gotten a new bike for Christmas. He giggled and could hardly wait to go show hubby and daughter. He laughed and kept saying that was too funny that those keys were in there. I told him to let this be a lesson to him and he asked what that could be. I said it is called responsibility and then I went on my merry way without preaching. He said, "Thanks mom for helping me." You're Welcome.

Lovingly yours,