4th Week of Advent Love

So we lit the last candle of the wreath, and this week we are consumed with Love: that realization that God loves us more than we can even imagine.  It's tough to contemplate the wideness and greatness of His love.

This week I saw elements of sincere Love and it helped me to better see, that I have just barely glimpsed His Love.

My Carefree Knight had a situation at school, minor, yet I felt important to resolve.  I was informed that he had misbehaved in class, and had to be told repeatedly to stop his actions....which he finally did stop, begrudgingly.

Once I had heard what had happened we started a conversation about what respect means....what does it mean to respect your teachers.  Why are they there?  They are there to teach you, and if you don't allow them to do that, or disobey them, you are disrespecting them.  He agreed that he should watch his behavior a little closer, and to make sure his teacher knew that he would be making this change, I encouraged Knight to write an apology note to this teacher.

Knight didn't like this idea, but I pressed him.  "You need to do this.  It's important to say I'm sorry sometimes, Buddy.  This way, she'll know you'll work harder on behavior in her class."

He wrote the note.  He included his apology and the next day he was off to school.

After school, I asked Knight, "So, what did your teacher say about your note?"
Knight answered, "Hum....I didn't give it to her."

I asked him, "Why not?"

Knight shook his shoulders, and gave a non-committal answer, "I don't know."

"You don't know?  Did you lose the note?"
Knight said, "No.  It's still in my backpack."
"Ok, did you forget to give it to her?"

Knight answered, "Hum....no.  I was embarrassed to do it."

"Oh, I see," I said, "It is hard to say that you're sorry.  It's hard for all of us to say it when we have done something wrong.  But we still have to do it."

Knight feeling the pressure said, "Ok."

"Tomorrow, understand?  Give it tomorrow."

So the next day came and went, and when he returned home, I asked him again, "So, did you give your note to your teacher?"

Smiling at me, Knight said, "Yes, I did."

"And?"
Knight said, "Well, she read it, and then said I was the only one to apologize to her about that day's behavior", as apparently there were more children involved in the situation.

I asked him, "Oh, really?  And how did that make you feel, that you were the only one?"
He sheepishly smiled at me, and said, "It felt good."

"Why?"

Knight came over to me then, and said, "It felt good to do the right thing."

Literally, I felt my heart heat with pride and appreciation for my son.  He did do the right thing, late, but he did finally follow through with it, and I was estatic.

Later, when we were alone, I asked Knight if he remembered the Gospel story of the healing of the ten lepers and how only one came back to say "thank you".  We discussed how happy it makes God to see even just the one come back to do the right thing.  "Imagine, Buddy, you were the one to come back.  You did it.  It was hard, embarrassing and even late.  But you did it.  You did the right thing, and I'm proud of you!"

He hugged me then, smiling big, and it was like our whole kitchen was glowing from the love that was in that room.

These are the moments I treasure, and I feel like I have a million of them, each one so tender, so precious, so filled with a smidgen of God's Love, that I walk on clouds for a few days. 

It is hard to come back.  It is hard to say the "I'm sorry", the "Thank you", those words of appreciation, regret, or gratitude.  Sometimes, our pride tells us we don't need to do it, that those who should hear it, already know it.  But, in the silence of our hearts we know, what we should do, and once we have done the hard task, ....it really does feel good.  And that's a snipped of God's Love.....just a small taste.

There's only a few days left before Christmas.....tell someone what you know you need to, and feel a glimpse of His Love.  Then, on Christmas, in all the joy of that glorious morning, you'll feel more of His Love, as He so LOVED the world to have given His only Son to live among us.

Prepare your heart, the time is fleeting fast.