Forgiveness...As Seen By A 9-Year Old
My oldest son and I were having one of those talks in the car again.
We got on the subject of forgiveness. He was asking about it and said that sometimes he doesn't want to forgive. I let him know that is fairly normal when we've been hurt by someone else. He said that some things just seem like they are too hard to forgive.
He went on to ask about the things that have hurt me in my 38 years on this earth. I told him about handful of them and he seemed a little dumbfounded that I could forgive such big things. I then told him that I'd been forgiven so much for the things I'd done wrong that I could not withhold that forgiveness from another. My response seemed to suffice.
For the time being, that is.
Backtrack with me if you will to last year's Thanksgiving weekend. We made our yearly trip down to visit family and seemed to have every electronic gadget known to man to keep the boys from driving us nuts entertained on the long trip.
DVD players...check.
PSP...check.
iPod...check.
Only somewhere along Interstate 35, Noah lost the iPod that he earned for making straight A's for his entire 3rd grade year. I don't know where it fell out of the car but I can assure you that Noah's mistake made someone else's day.
Noah and I continued our talk about forgiveness as we went to the grocery store that afternoon. During this talk I brought up his carelessness about losing his iPod AGAIN. I didn't yell, but definitely let him know AGAIN that he needed to take better care of his things. As if he didn't know that already.
And you know what he said to me?
He said, "Mom, you sure can forgive the big things that are hard to forgive but you can't let a little thing like losing an iPod go."
Ouch. He was right. So, I let it go.
Figure some of you might need to join me about this sort of thing.
I see that hand.
Labels: Cindy Beall, Forgiveness
posted by Cindy Beall @ 12:05 AM
5 Comments:
Awesome devotion.
Two things about kids: 1) They can see through complex matters to the heart of the issue and 2) They are painfully honest! Good post.
Ouch! That one hit home. I'm done....no more bringing up past mistakes to my children. God forgave me for so much. He cast my sins as far as the east is from the west. He doesn't bring it up again. As a mother, shouldn't I offer the same to MY children?
How precious! I know I take it personally when my kids lose something, like I haven't trained them well enough or something. He's right, in the greater scheme of things, it's not a big deal. I have 3 swimmers and they each have several pairs of goggles they're supposed to keep up with. I don't know why they have such a hard time with that, but it's a real challenge. I'm so blessed they are the wonderful kids they are, and I know as they grow older they will become more responsible, probably through the losses they experience now.
Great reminder! LOVE the post! Thanks for sharing!
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It is good to hear from you... thank you so very much for leaving a note on the table. That makes us smile!
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