The reigning champ of getting my two year old daughter to stay down for her nap, I was savoring the taste of sweet victory as I plunked myself down on my comfy leather couch. I inhaled a deep sigh of relief, ready to enjoy a much anticipated respite. My sigh of relief; however, was quickly interrupted by an eerie silence that seemed to suddenly settle into our home. Careful to not wake up my daughter, I quietly called out to my boys.
Jordan?
Jake?
There was no answer.
I made my way through the house, checking every room and their known hiding places. No sign. My husband was dozing off in the living room, but was startled awake by my growing panic, “I can’t find the boys!”
To which he responded in the most nonchalant tone, “Oh, don’t worry. They’re on the side of the house spray painting some wood.”
Yes. My four year old and six year old were armed with red and blue spray paint cans.
So … with a premonition that only a mom can understand I sprinted (yes, sprinted) outside to check on them. The eery silence had not just settled inside our house, it had also settled outside our house. No sounds of rowdy little boys playing. And no visible sign of them either. They were gone! I frantically screamed out their names.
Still no answer. Noticing that both their bikes were gone, I called hysterically to my husband, “The boys are gone!”
I waited anxiously on our driveway as my husband ran down our street to the cul-de-sac, calling out their names with each stride. Within seconds I heard him call to me the sweetest words I’d ever heard …
“I FOUND THEM!”
Now that they were okay, they were so going to get it!
Little did I know my sweet little boys, (turned vandals) were actually on the run, hiding from their “crime.” Remember when Adam and Eve hid from God because they knew they had sinned. Well…
As my husband safely rounded the curve with my precious boys, in an oddly monotone voice, he said these words, “Oh Shelly! You are not going to believe what I am looking at! Go look at the side of the house.”
I walked around to the side of the house, and he was right. I couldn’t believe my eyes!
My boys spray-painted not only the side of our house in bright red and blue paint, but also our neighbor’s home.
In bright red paint, there was a near perfect drawing of a smiley face, measuring approximately three-feet tall and about as wide. And then there was Jake’s name perfectly spray painted in blue, again, nearly three-feet tall. Oh, and I can’t forget about the blue and red abstract designs artfully displayed all over our neighbor’s privacy fence and under the eaves of both houses.
My husband and I had an emergency huddle in our garage. “What in the world are we going to do?” My heart was beating faster and faster by the second. Options flooded our minds.
“If we start packing now, we can be out of here in 24 hours!”, I quipped.
We agreed the better option would be to just face the music and pray for mercy. Lots of mercy!
I’m not sure whom this lesson was harder on. Mommy and Daddy or our two little men. Nonetheless, after an extended lecture and reprimand, I explained to them our game plan.
“Boys, here’s what we’re going to do. We’ll go to Miss Vivian’s house and you two are going to tell her what you did. Then I’m going to hand her this check to pay for the damage that you did to her house. And then, we’re going to go home to finish “talking” about what happened today.” They ferrociously nodded their heads in agreement.
With fear and trepidation written all over their faces, I took their tiny, spray painted hands in mine, and together, we walked next door. I took a deep breath and gently knocked on the door. Miss Vivian opened the door and greeted us in her typical sweet and welcoming manner.
I looked at my oldest “Van Gogh” and said, “Jordan, do you have something to say to Miss Vivian?” With a pitiful remorse, he described how he and his little brother spray-painted the side of her house. Satisfied with his admission, I cut in and profusely apologized while handing her a check to cover the damages.
Much to my relief and delight she was more than gracious in her response. She didn’t look shaken in the least. I was tempted to say, “Did you just hear my boys? They SPRAY PAINTED YOUR HOUSE.” But, I didn’t. I thanked her for being so gracious, and we quickly made our way back down the sidewalk to our home.
About twenty minutes later, our door bell rang. It was Miss Vivian. She handed me back the check that I’d given her.
“It wasn’t enough?”, I asked.
“Oh yes, it was more than enough, but I want you to have it back. My boys once broke our neighbor’s window with a baseball,” she explained. “Don’t worry about it. We were going to re-paint our house anyway.”
I learned a very important lesson that day.
Keep spray paint cans away from four and six-year old boys … and their dad.
As for my little men? They learned a priceless lesson that went beyond the crime of defacing property and taking responsibility for their actions. They learned the value of mercy. Mercy! “Not getting what they deserved.”
Miss Vivian would have been more than justified in her wrath that afternoon. But she extended an undeserved, gracious gift to our family … mercy. We expected; a rightfully so, angry neighbor, and financial loss. Instead we received mercy wrapped in forgiveness with no strings attached.
Is there anyone you need to “let off the hook?” Go ahead … give the undeserved, gracious gift of mercy. Sometimes the ones who need our mercy the most, are the ones living right inside our very own homes and those who are closest to us. Our children need to learn early on how to forgive and extend mercy, and as moms we have an opportunity to be the example of mercy. Our children will emulate what we model. Do they notice us extending more mercy to those outside our home than we do inside our home? Truth is, merciful, forgiving moms have a really good chance of producing merciful and forgiving children.
Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. –Ephesians 4:32
QUESTION: HOW HAVE YOU TAUGHT YOUR KIDS MERCY LATELY? WHAT ARE SOME CHARACTER TRAITS YOU WANT TO INSTILL IN YOUR CHILDREN’S HEARTS?
By Shelly Brown
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