4 suckers and a lesson in justice and mercy
The other day I had a nice line up at the doctors office. Lucy's 5 year well visit, Owen's 3 year well visit and Van's 4 month well visit. Our doctor is awesome but we were there for an hour and a half. It was late afternoon on a no nap day for Owen which is right when he starts to lose a little self control and his ability to listen and obey plummets :)!
The doctor had given Lucy and Owen each two little suckers saying one for now and one for after the shots. Owen ate his first sucker right away but Lucy held onto both of hers. Bit by bit Owen was having a harder time behaving and was causing a little trouble. I was trying everything I could think of to help him settle down, but nothing was working so I took a gamble. I threatened to throw away his other sucker hoping this would be incentive enough to do the trick. It wasn't and I hated to do it, but I followed through with my word and threw his sucker in the trash. Of course he was SO sad--he kind of crumpled onto a chair and started sobbing. Lucy took one look at his sad little face and she immediately asked if she could give Owen one of her suckers. I told her she could, but that Owen would need to obey and stop pulling the blinds etc. for the last few minutes of our visit. Owen "humbled" after losing his treat finally pulled it together and as we left the office Lucy let him choose which flavor he wanted. WOW--my heart was full!
During the drive home I was thinking about this experience and how it reminded me in sorts how our Father in Heaven achieves perfect justice and mercy. It is through his son Jesus Christ. I felt like I needed to follow through with Owen's punishment; he was not doing what he needed to be doing....that was the justice. But I didn't want to throw his sucker away...I did not want to situation to end like that. I was so happy that Lucy was there and she was able to step in. She had the extra sucker and through her action mercy was also dealt out. The demands of justice and mercy were both met. I was just surprised to see it all happen at the doctors office with 4 suckers and 2 cranky kids (well at least one was cranky :)).
