Forgiveness

Forgiving has been the theme of March in children's church. The children's memory verse is Colossians 3:13 "Forgive the things you are holding against one another. Forgive, just as the Lord forgave you." , and the motto is "when we don't forgive, we miss out". I didn't realize what an excellent parenting strategy this would be. The first graders and I were tossing a balloon from person to person with each repeating one word of the motto at a time until we all shouted, "we miss out!" together. I have been able to use this multiple times in the last two weeks. For example, yesterday Trinity was sitting by me reading to me and I misunderstood something she said and made a joke at her expense. She jumped up all mad, shouting that she would never sit by me again, (yeah right) but I was able to get her to stop and listen before she left the room. I apologized for the misunderstanding and unkind words and asked her to come back. She came back to the couch but started reading to herself. I said "don't you want to read out loud to me?", (which she loves) to which she replied, "I'm not reading out loud to you ever again". (words like EVER, NEVER, and ALWAYS are her favorite exaggerations) "Trinity," I said, "when you don't forgive, you miss out". She sat there for a minute and then began reading aloud again. Any strategy that makes a person take responsibility for their actions is a winner and opening their eyes at a young age to the effects of unforgiveness is huge. I have also used it once or twice in the context of a time out. Blake was not able to join in on an activity for a few minutes because he had an unforgiving attitude toward his sister. This upset him but the simplicity of telling him "when we don't forgive. . ." and him finishing "we miss out", cannot be denied. You might give it a try.