Raising a little human

There will be no Wii playing in our house tonight. Luke and I have learned that, while "time out" has been a very effective form of discipline in our home, it is loosing its sting. Our little guy now has enough perspective to know that 3 minutes on the stairs alone is very manageable and doesn't last very long. Perhaps this new fearlessness contributed to a long afternoon spent in a lie. It was so painful to look into my son's eyes and to be pretty sure that he was lying to me... over and over and over until the truth finally came out. It was painful because I have so much trust in my little guy. He really is a pretty trustworthy 3 year old! But I remembered that although he's my little angel, he is also a little human. And the same brokenness in him that leads him to lie is the same brokenness in me that leads me to sin. Like every other human, my little guy will struggle, and he will be tempted to sin in every way. And he will give in just like I do. Over and over and over.

So tonight after a long-awaited confession, we had a family meeting. The much anticipated Wii playing of the evening was cancelled. And it stung. And he apologized. And we forgave him. And we pray that, as long as he's in our care, he will know discipline and consequences. And he will know mercy and forgiveness. And he will get a very small and extremely limited sense of his heavenly Father's eternal grace.

And we hope that next time he steps on a plastic ladle and it breaks that he will just fess up the first time around.