Confessions

My four year old Will is such a sweet kid. Like most 4 year old boys he is very active. At any given moment he may break into karate chopping, kicking, jumping, shooting, yelling, running, tackling, and the list goes on. However, he is also caring, intuitive, loving, kind, sensitive, and very emotional. Every few weeks, completely out of the blue, Will comes to me and says, "Mommy I was naughty and I need to tell you about it." Herein begins his confessions. It is almost as if his mishaps have been weighing on him and he has to get it off his chest. Along with his heart felt apologies comes an array of intense and sincere facial expressions. It is almost hard to keep a straight face. Once he confesses he then always asks, "Mommy will you forgive me?"

So as I have been reporting these instances to my husband I thought I would share a few with you as well.

Today, Will looks at me with a rather pitiful face, and I knew it was coming... a confession. We were eating lunch on the deck enjoying a beautiful sunny day and he said, "Mom when I told you I yawned 100 times I really only yawned 14 times, I am so sorry!"

This all began about a month ago with his confession that he sometimes puts little toys in his pocket and takes them to the gym childcare room. I asked him what we did when he took them to the gym with him. He answered, "I keep them in my pocket, I knew you would be so mad at me! I am sorry!"

I few weeks later he told me that some morning he goes in his sisters' room and climbs into Teagan's crib with her and reads books.

I have to admit that these heartfelt apologies melt my heart and I jokingly told someone that I hope he is still confessing things to me as a teenager. Then the deeper thought came to me today, what I really want is for Will to live a life of conviction. Not where he thinks he has to come to his mom every few weeks and tell me every little thing he has done wrong, but that he will go to his Saviour and ask for forgiveness when needed. I can only hope that I can learn from his example and "get the things off my chest" when God impresses my heart to fix a behavior, habit, or sin that is out of line with His will for my life. Our children can be great teachers, can't they?