those little life lessons

at my church today a boy told two interesting encounters he had with his mother:

this boy had taken some money that was set aside for hot lunches at school. he used it to buy nachos (a guilty pleasure i can understand) and eventually felt guilty enough that he had to come clean to his mom.

he pulled his mom into the living room and tearfully confessed. he gave her the money he had set aside for a nerf gun (classic) and apologize again and again.

he said his mother pulled him into a hug and said, "i'm most proud of my kids when they are sorry."

this is what i found interesting... [1] she didn't fixate on the fact that he had stolen, etc (which i guess you don't have to do if you're kid has already come clean) and instead [2] focused on reinforcing the good actions. [3] extrapolate this to our heavenly father and savior. imagine how proud they are of us when we are repentant and striving to improve ourselves.

i had a discussion with a friend this weekend and he kept saying 'we'll never be perfect in this lifetime' which isn't an invitation to give up but instead an invitation to take every mistake and learn from it.

our heavenly father is most proud when we are sorry :)

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the second story took place while this boy was living with his family in japan. it was his junior year of high school and he was pretty bitter about giving up his life in the states to live abroad.

everyday he'd come home and complain to his mom about how he had the worst day. again and again he'd come home and do this until one day his mom turned to him and said, "when are you ever going to have a good day?" she then turned and left the room.

the boy said he sat there steaming. still frustrated about his situation and now annoyed with his mom for not allowing him to validate himself.

he said the next day he came home and before beginning his tirade on how awful his day was he said that he thought of one thing good that happened to tell his mom. the next day he did the same thing. he kept finding the good things that eventually he stopped looking for them. he was actually having good days.

this is what i found interesting...[1] his mom didn't try to convince him that things were good. i do think that for some people pointing out the positive is necessary but it was much more effective in this case to set him up to find out the good things himself. [2] she taught him that happiness can be a choice...imagine if we all learned that lesson at 16?

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