The other day Faith made a couple of bad choices in the words she used when we were in the van on the way home from the grocery store. As a result, I told her that when we got home I'd give her hot sauce - our standard treatment for a potty mouth.
She HATES hot sauce! She can't think of a worse punishment. So . . . the whole way home she was crying and blubbering and begging, "Please, Mom, No! I'm sorry for what I said" . . . etc.
When we got home, I sent her to her room so that I could administer the punishment - and the blubbering continued. At this point I was feeling more than a little exhausted (grocery shopping with two fighting siblings wears on you), and I just didn't feel like dealing with the screaming and bawling and begging for ice cubes that follows putting hot sauce on her tongue. So, I went into her room, sat on her bed and had a little conversation with her about grace.
I asked her if she knew what grace meant. She knows it's her sister's middle name, but that's about the extent of it. I explained that grace is when you deserve punishment, but it is taken away from you for no reason at all - just out of love. And then I extended grace to her. We talked about how she really deserved hot sauce on her tongue for how she had spoken . . . but that I was going to extend her grace this time, and ask her to be sure not to say those things again.
Then we talked about the Grace that our Heavenly Father gives to us, by forgiving all of our sins and wanting to be our Forever Friend. We talked about how we deserve hell, but that God made a way for us to avoid eternal punishment for our sins through his only Son, Jesus.
It was a really neat moment - a teachable moment. She certainly has a better understanding of grace, and of what God did for us when He sent His Son to take our punishment.
The only downside, is that the next time she was going to be punished or spanked for something she yelled out, "Give me grace, give me grace, I need grace!" This was also a teachable moment . . . sometimes we have to be punished for our bad choices. However I couldn't help but smirking a little.
2 comments:
Wow Sonny, what a great reminder of the grace we receive everyday! -D
What a great mom! My favorite story of grace (that I tell my kids) is when my middle school Bible teacher gave us a test, then had us all turn it in blank and told us we all would receive an 'A' on it. He then related how this was like the grace that God gave us through Jesus. Best test score of my eighth grade year ... :)
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