rules Archives - By Hannah Davis

A Real Parent

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Hannah Davis

My oldest son is 10.

That’s weird.

Last I remember, I was barely 21 and I had a new little baby and no idea what I was doing.

And I still don’t really know what I’m doing. I’m just winging this parenting thing and hoping I hit all the big stuff.

Maybe someday I’ll feel like a REAL parent.

You know? Like when we were kids and our parents totally knew what they were doing. They had that parenting thing in the bag. I’m still waiting for it.

But the other day. The other day, I might have seen legit-parentness coming on the horizon.

Isaiah was playing video games with his friends. Except they were at their houses and he was at ours and they were all talking to each other through the TV. Because, technology these days.

So, Isaiah’s friends asked him if he had a certain game.

I heard him say, “No, I don’t have that. Because my parents won’t let me.”

I mean, how parenty is that?!

We must be real parents. The ones kids talk about when adults aren’t around.

We are THE MAN.

It’s so odd and heart-touching all at the same time.

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Company Policy

Posted on August 25, 2011 by Hannah Davis

An arm-chair-quarterback was sharing her opinions about a prominent Christian leader the other day. I’d never heard of the leader (or the quarterback) before, so she could have been totally right. But she made a statement that bothered me.

“I think [Christian] leaders should be held at a higher standard, even more than the lay members.”

I guess. Yeah. But not really.

Because when we say that leaders are called to a “higher” standard, it implies that the rest of us are called to a lesser standard. And that just doesn’t work for me.

I mean, think of it like this:

I worked at Wal-Mart for 3 hellish months (OK, it was 3 mildly aggravating months). And there was not one standard for the managers because they were “leadership” and another for the regular employees.

The company never said, “If you’re management, you must come to work on time, but if you’re a cashier, you can come in 20 minutes late.” No. Or, “Management is not allowed to steal from the cash registers, but if you’re only part time, we look the other way.” No.

They had company policies. It didn’t matter your role or how many smiley stickers you handed out, you still had to wear a shirt to work. You had to show up for your shift. You couldn’t beat your coworkers up. You couldn’t sell alcohol to minors. Stuff like that.

And the Kingdom of heaven is no different. We all work for the same company and we all have to follow company policy. Yeah, some of us have roles that require more responsibility, or more time, or more skills than others of us.

But. None of us are allowed to sin. Leaders or non-leaders. We’re called to be perfect, like God. Dead to the flesh. Free from sin. And if we do sin, we all receive the same grace. And are all made the same righteousness of Christ.

So, back to this whole, “Leaders are called to a higher standard” bit. Why do we say that? I mean, most of us have probably spouted something akin to it at some point. I know I have. So, why?

Because it makes us feel better. Just like any form of judgementalism, it lets us think we’re really doing OK. If so-and-so is a leader and she just checked into rehab, then my little gossip problem isn’t too much to be worried about.

And guys, Jesus is so beautiful. The grace and forgiveness He’s extended to us is nothing we could even remotely deserve. Let’s just quit trying to play this little “God grades on a curve” game and live our lives in response to the love He’s lavished on us.

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I’m Going to Scream!

Posted on June 26, 2009 by Hannah Davis

When I was growing up, I had a friend who’s mom wouldn’t let us scream. It was the foremost rule of their house. You were not allowed to scream inside. You were not allowed to scream outside. The ONLY reason to scream was if there was an emergency.

One time we were playing in their camper and somehow managed to get the door locked on ourselves. My friend and I looked at each other and said, “This is an emergency… we can scream!” And we milked it for all it was worth. We screamed our lungs out, until our throats hurt. But it was the most amazing fun, because we finally had an excuse to scream. When the mom heard us and let us out of the camper, we got praised for screaming at the correct time.

I don’t remember specific anti-screaming rules at my house, so as a kid, I thought my friend’s mom was super strict. I mean, a ban on screaming was highly restrictive to a child’s playtime. The rule was so serious, the kids got time-out’s for screaming, and if you were playing at their house and screamed (whether you were aware of the rule or not) you got a time out too. What a mean mom!

But. Now I am a mom and I’ve come to realize something. That lady wasn’t a shrew… she was just trying to preserve her sanity!

My son’s favorite pastime is roaring: like a lion, like a dinosaur, like a monster… it doesn’t really matter the animal/creature, as long as he can roar! My daughter loves to respond by screaming in terror. Sometimes this terror is happy terror and sometimes she’s genuinely frightened, but either way it comes out as screams. And if roaring doesn’t work to get his sister to scream, Isaiah resorts to screaming himself and Leah happily chimes in.

They love screaming so much, they use it like commercial breaks between playing. Isaiah plays Thomas Trains and Leah plays Little People Castle for awhile, and when they both get bored, they start screaming. Isaiah plays legos and Leah plays babies, and when they both get bored, they scream. They scream back and forth at each other during the previews on their movies. They scream while they sit at the table waiting for me to serve the food. They scream in the bathtub. They scream outside. They scream, scream, scream!

And I’m losing my sanity! By the end of they day (or sometimes at the beginning) I’m screaming too… screaming at them to stop. Why, oh why, did I not make a NO SCREAMING rule? While was busy judging my friend’s mom, I should have been learning from her example. She was one smart lady!

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