Last night James hung out with 2 college friends. I decided the kiddos and I should have a camp out in our living room. A little before dinner, I told them the plan. All 3 were thrilled.
For the past few days, Malachi has been struggling with talking back and arguing with me when told to do something. Yesterday was no different. I told him that he was not allowed to have any more bad choices or the camp out would be taken away from him and he would spend the evening in his room. Right after discussing this with him, he chose to argue with me over something minuscule. I had to break the bad news that he just lost the camp out. Huge tears filled his eyes and I could tell that his heart was broken. My heart was broken, too. I had wanted this evening to be fun for everyone. He pulled himself together and forged ahead making just plain awesome choices during dinner and right after dinner. When it was time for him to go upstairs, he didn't complain; he started to quietly make his way to his room.
Before he made it to his room, I stopped him. I told him how proud I was of his recent choices and so I was giving him a second chance for the camp out. He was warned that even a little bad choice would not be tolerated. His face overflowed with pure joy.
For the camp out, the kiddos brought down their sleeping bags and pillows. I closed the blinds and turned the lights out. We huddled together and had fun watching a movie. Throughout the entire movie, Malachi leaned against my arm and kissed my hand and thanked me over and over again for giving him a second chance. He also kept telling me how much he loved me. He never got close to making a bad choice.
It made me think about how many times God gives us second chances...do we capitalize on them like Malachi did or do we disregard what has been given to us?
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