Being a parent is not easy. There are hard lessons all around us that we need to continually see our children through. We need to guide and direct, insist on bedtimes and eating good foods. We need to laugh and hug and love.
Sometimes we need to pick them back up off the ground and explain why the world or people do things that don't make sense and that skinned hands and sometimes knees happen when others make poor choices. Just the same, we need to wash ourselves off and move forward. Not always an easy job to do. It hurts to be treated poorly, but we could continue the cycle and make others hurt, or offer forgiveness. Forgiveness doesn't mean that we are going to let someone continue to make poor choices that hurt us. It may mean creating some space in a relationship and putting up some boundaries so we don't continue to get hurt. But it also means seeing someone the way God sees them. Choosing to love and rebuild instead of tearing down.
Zach learned the lesson this morning while waiting for the bus. He got skinned hands, and didn't get to finish talking to the child that had been involved. Yet, he did get to talk to me about forgiving someone in our heart and deciding to put it in the past and move on. Hopefully, the other child will see his compassion and learn other choices.
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