Forgiveness With a Side of Tuna

Today has been A Terrible. Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day! (who knows this book?)

Ohh, it has been a hard Mama day today. One of those days where it feels like everything goes wrong. I woke up with the bright idea of taking everyone on their first outing in two weeks (two weeks of the swine flu).

Where you ask?

Somewhere fun for the kids? No. A nice drive in the country to admire the fall beauty? Nope.

We went to Target..dun, dun, dun. It gave everyone the 'I wants'...those tend to sneak up on you without the least bit of warning. We didn't find what we were there for, but instead lots of SUPER BUSY people, coughing and sneezing, GERMS, and mom's with one happily sleeping or cooing child that give you the 'I can't believe you have four kids and you actually take them places' look.

We left. And where did we go next? Good guess, yes, you are right we should have gone home, but instead to Fred Meyer. Isles and isles full of things to touch, more SUPER BUSY people hustling and bustling to finish VERY IMPORTANT business, and a clean up on isle 10. We didn't make it to the bathroom in time. By then, we had crying, fighting, I want..., grumbling, and pouting. To the car and home we go, screaming, crying, fighting, hungry, and tired with urine soaked tights. We got home and finally made it inside the house, and I broke. Any patience that was dangling from a thread snapped. 'Everyone upstairs, to your rooms! No more whining, crying, yelling, fighting, or arguing! GO!!!' The kids marched up the stairs crying.

Yuck, huh? I know.

I went out to the garage to pull out a roast, I dropped the large frozen roast on my bare foot and muttered some really not nice words. OUCH! After lunch was made I called everyone back downstairs to the table and before we ate we prayed.

In front of my kids whom I had just yelled at, I asked God to forgive me. For losing my patience, for yelling at my beautiful children, for not using kind words, for being a grump. The tears came. The kids just watched me. I apologized and asked for their forgiveness and they all gave me the sweetest hugs and 'I love yous' And there at my sticky dining table, eating tuna sandwiches, with a throbbing foot, I saw the most beautiful God given grace and forgiveness. Absolute beauty.

Isn't it amazing how God can use some not so fun experiences to show us grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness? And isn't it just like God to use a child to teach us? So much to learn from these precious little people.

And now, what once was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, is a glimpse of God's unconditional love, and beautiful heart. A day to remember if you ask me.