I stood there, looked at him and then at the wall. Pause. Repeat. I asked him, 'Why would this make me happy?' He smiled & gave no answer. I didn't yell (which tends to be my natural response), but asked him why he did this, no answer. 'Where are you suppose to color?' He answered appropriately, 'on paper.' Good. He knew the right thing to do.
We then discussed why this made me upset. We just painted these walls and now he had ruined the paint. He genuinely said he was sorry and I let him know that as soon as I got the appropriate item, he would be cleaning it off the wall himself. He's old enough, and aware enough, to start fixing what he has 'broke'.
My big 4 year old, righting his wrong. A good side note, after he was done cleaning, he apologized again for coloring on the wall. What a sweet boy!
This all makes me think about what I've broken in life. Relationships, feelings and my Mom's book I drew in when I was little. Was I remorseful for any of it? How long after it's done can you still ask for forgiveness or make it right?
There is someone I've been needing to apologize to for awhile now. It's not that I was out right rude, but I assumed to know their position in life. To me, I broke a cord between us. I've been meaning to say something for awhile now & everything seems to be getting in the way to 'fix' it. Well, I'm pretty sure that if I have time to write this blog post, I have time to write them an apology. Talk about accountability. Please ask me in a few days if I've done it yet!
'So that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.'
I Corintians 12:25-26
I love this! Not the crayon-on-paint bit (thank goodness for Magic Erasers), but the part I live daily, where you try and teach principles to your kids that you realize you may not be fully living yourself. I feel my soul curdle a bit every time I remind a kid to be patient with her sister. Because I'm 31 and I still can't do this well.
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