Family Life

I started to tidy up the Lego last night, clearing the floor in anticipation of vacuuming. Rather than throw everything into a box, as usual, I decided to do a more thorough job and take everything apart first. To understand how much peril this involved, you’d have to understand the rules of Lego.

Rule #1: Each boy’s creations are sacrosanct–they must be put away intact, undamaged, unchanged, to be brought out again later with equal care.

This is a crucial rule. It prevents all manner of sibling rivalry erupting into fits of rage and rampant destruction. (Yes, I have angelic children, didn’t you know?) Nevertheless, that rivalry required a second rule.

Rule #2: Any child may use parts from the general pool, but parts must be taken specifically for building models. Parts must not be privately stockpiled or hoarded.

The first rule favours Daniel, who’s a builder. He’s very protective of his creations. The second rule hinders Joel, who’s a hoarder. So we ended up with some unintended consequences. Daniel will have two or three models at any one time, carefully and patiently designed and built. He only has two or three because by then he’s run out of parts. That’s because Joel hurries to build as many models as he can, as fast as he can, using as many parts as he can, preferably wheels, propellers, and other things that articulate or move. Once those parts are locked into a model they are HIS. Ha! See rule #1. And so Joel circumvents rule #2 and satisfies his little consumer heart, surrounded by a dozen or more bulky devices reminiscent of Dr. Seuss.

So last night, while pretending to play with Micah, I surreptitiously took the blandest, most nondescript of Joel’s models and took it apart. It had no wheels, no propellers, no moving parts. He’d never miss it. I tipped the loose pieces onto the general pile. See the photo for an idea of what that pile looks like.

Joel wandered into the living room. “What are you doing, Daddy?”

- “I’m putting the Lego away.”

There’s a moment of silence.

- “YOU BROKE MY ROCK MONSTER!!!”

Oh. So that’s what it was. “Yes Joel. We’re taking everything apart and putting it away. How did you know?”

He pointed an accusing finger at the general pile. “All the pieces are there!”

See, he still had a dozen or so models left. He hadn’t noticed that one individual model was missing, just that pieces that were “his” had been put back into general circulation. That caused him to take a careful inventory of his remaining models, where he discovered the heist.

I gave a more detailed explanation of what I was doing, and why, and Joel grumbled a bit but sat down and was soon playing happily.

Over the next fifteen minutes I would pick up another of Joel’s models on the sly and take it apart. By the time he realized this hadn’t been a one-off event, that Dad meant everything must go, his inventory was down to half. Joel sank into a dark depression. With the declaration, “I’m going to break everything apart” he started to break the mini-men down to their component pieces (hat, head, torso, legs) and spread the pieces throughout the pile.

- “No, no Joel! Don’t take the men apart! Leave their heads and legs attached!”

Those are small pieces, few and far between, hard to find in the big pile. Joel retorted,

- “You said we had to take everything apart. So I’m taking everything apart.”

Sigh. Oh well. At least he was getting the job done, albeit for the wrong reasons.

Panic set in when we got down to the last remaining model. By now there was a large pile of treasured parts up for grabs, that anybody could get their hands on. Joel reversed direction and started to build, fast and furious. He knew that as soon as I finished it would all get tipped into the box. In the time it took me to take the last model apart he had built four new ones. He was still adding parts to the fourth model when I closed the lid on the box. It reminded me of the mad scribblings of a student when the instructor calls Time’s Up! on an exam.

Why did I take everything apart?

I wanted to foster innovation, new ideas, invention. With most of the pieces locked up in existing models there wasn’t as much opportunity to try something different, to experiment. Daniel got it straight away. I explained, and he took all his models apart immediately. He had more to gain with such a scheme. Joel had more to lose.

It reminded me of Jesus’ words in the sermon on the mount,

Do not accumulate for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But accumulate for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:19-21 (NET)

We all hold on to our stuff a little more closely than we should. We all want to get more stuff, new stuff. We struggle to find places to store it all and mourn over its loss. We share in Joel’s troubles.

But Jesus calls us to a different perspective. To quote Michael W. Smith,

So let it go and turn it over to
The one who chose to give his life for you
Leave it to me
I’ll lead you home

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 at 2:32 pm. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.