The sound of something spilling all over the floor brought me running into the kitchen.
There was Elijah, my almost 5 year old, with a look of fear on his face. He had made a huge mess and spilled his juice all over the chair and the floor.
Maybe it is because I have been sick the past few days and unable to keep up with my everyday responsibilities let alone parent well….
Maybe it was the look on his face, I don’t know….but I didn’t respond the way that I normally would.
I didn’t get angry or yell at him. I have little patience for stupid mistakes. (I am serious…patience is NOT a virtue that I was blessed with and it becomes more and more clear as I struggle to parent a 3 yr old and almost 5 yr old well!)
Normally I would let something like this really upset me….I wouldn’t see it as an accident, but a careless mistake.
But this night was different.
This night I just grabbed a rag and started to clean up the mess and told Elijah it was just an accident (which it was)….
I told him that he needed to be more careful about where he left his cup on the table so it didn’t happen again – but I was calm and kind.
Grace.
We all need it don’t we?
I am not above stupid mistakes, heck I make them all the time! And I expect grace from others don’t I?!
Why am I not as willing to extend it then?
Just that afternoon I had left work for an extended time to take a nap because I was feeling so terrible. I need grace too, just like everyone else.
God really used this little incident to speak to my weary heart.
I don’t want my kids to always be afraid that I am going to get angry when they do something wrong.
I want them to learn how to give and receive grace. (<=== Click to Tweet)
I want them to know that their mistakes don’t define them, but God’s grace for their lives does.
As we enter the final days of Holy Week, I am more and more grateful for the amazing gift of grace that was shown to me.
God sacrificed His ONLY Son, to be a Savior of all mankind. Even when He knew we would be sinful, even when He knew we would curse Him, would fall away and turn from His love….He loved us THAT much that in spite of who He knew we would be, He still made a way so that we could spend eternity with Him.
Wow – that kind of grace is overwhelming isn’t it?!
Grace.
We all need it.
I am grateful that I had an opportunity to practice grace in a real way with my kids. I won’t always do it well…in fact now that I have written this post I will probably fail in a BIG way in the coming days. (I’m just saying….I am the chief of hypocrites)
But I hope that I can be more quick to remember to extend grace instead of react negatively.
Because we all need a little grace!
Joining the lovely Holley Gerth today in her weekly 2014 Encouragement Challenge.
Photo Credit: Share the Word
It is overwhelming-His grace. It’s something I’m always trying to figure out instead of just accepting and resting in it. Our kids have a way of teaching us important lessons don’t they ? 🙂
I need His grace every moment of every day. My children have always taught me so well about grace.
“I want them to know that their mistakes don’t define them, but God’s grace for their lives does.” I wish I had been taught this as a child, and not had to learn it as an adult. Way to go, mama. 🙂
As I read your grace-full post Kristin, I smiled at how cool and fitting it is that an acronym for grace is God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense and your blog is titled The Riches of His Love. It is overwhelming that “He loved us THAT much that in spite of who He knew we would be, He still made a way so that we could spend eternity with Him.” Grace for us to richly RECEIVE. Thank you for your sharing story of grace richly GIVEN to Elijah too. You’re right, we all need grace. Sometimes we need to receive grace and sometimes we need to be the one to give grace. Because we all mess up and spill things.