Oxen

As promised I am writing today to explain how God relieved to me that my sons are Oxen. If I was to look up oxen on the internet (Wikipedia & the Dictionary) I could learn a lot about oxen like:

1. Working oxen are taught to respond to the signals of the teamster (mom or dad). These signals are given by verbal command, body language ("The Mom look"), and the use of a goad, whip or a long pole (index finger of pointing). In preindustrial times, many teamsters were known for their loud voices (Me? Loud? I'm sure that has to be a typo...I'm quite soft spoken *sarcasm*) and forthright language (Is it bad that I had to look up forthright? This point is mostly pertaining to dad, as he can attest I like to take detours to the point).

2. Oxen must be painstakingly trained from a young age. (While I love my sons SO very much and I think that are very good kids, discipline is painstakingly hard)

3. "ox, bull"), said to be from base *uks- "to sprinkle," related to *ugw- "wet, moist." The animal word, then, is lit. "besprinkler."(This describes Ellis. Ellis loves to sprinkle! I have lost count of all the times Ellis has sprinkled me and at Thanksgiving he sprinkled Dad in a manner deserving of an Olympic Medal (I can write this story if you want....let me know))


Overall, it is a pretty hard stretch for me to think of my wonderful sons as oxen, until God gives me some of His perspective.

Proverbs 14:4 Where no oxen are, the manger is clean,
But much revenue comes by the strength of the ox.

There are times in my life when I feel like I'm not a good enough woman/person since my house is a mess and I'm not very productive. I have been over at some people's homes and they are MUCH neater than mine. Also, I know people that get TONS done during the day and are very productive. Sometimes this gets used as a weapon against me and I get down. The other day God popped this verse out amongst the verses I read in Proverbs.

I could have a clean life.
I could have a clean house.
I could have an organized and clean schedule.

However,
I have wonderful sons that are going to be mighty warriors for the Kingdom of God. I have two sons, at the moment, that are filled with the Love and Joy of Christ. God uses my sons to bring so much joy, peace (God's definition, not mine), grace, patience (OH, the patience that comes...), perseverance (try to stop a 2 yr old from doing something His way or putting him down for a much needed nap...I have truly seen, experienced, and respect perseverance in such a new way), and love.

There are days that Dad comes home and there are blocks everywhere, broken boxes from the construction and demolition of forts, dirty clothes from crafts and food, spit-up soaked onesie on a drooling 3 month old son, and mom still in PJs with dirty marks (merit badges) of the day. Life is dirty that day, but I know that sometimes those are the best/most remember-able days for my sons development and heart growth, as well as my own heart's growth.

"Where no oxen are, the manger is clean, But much revenue comes by the strength of the ox."

So, while the true definition of oxen are not very becoming....I take great joy and love thinking of my children now as oxen some days.