Dave here...
This morning Calvin came crying into the bathroom where I was getting ready, complaining about how Violet said she wouldn't play with him and shut herself in her room. Often, I would fetch the other sibling and have them talk it over. But, this time I felt a different approach would be more appropriate. I empathized with Calvin, and let him know that he would experience rejection in life and that it is hard and it hurts. He acknowledged that it hurt his feelings. I have a chair in the bathroom, since I have a healing foot, so I pulled him into my lap, where he curled up and I just held him until he felt a little better. I then explained that the Bible tells us we should be kind to those who are mean to us. I'll admit, I had low expectations regarding how he would respond to that. To my surprise, he 'got it' and announced that he would give Violet a piece of candy. Then, unbeknownst to me, he went downstairs, got out a piece of paper and wrote 'i LOVE ViOLet' He put a sticker on it and then gave it to her with an orange tic tac from his own personal tic tac box. I was beyond amazed and very touched by this. My 5 year old son set a great example for me today.
I love you, Calvin!
Dad
Thanks for sharing, nice work DADDY DAVE
ReplyDeleteThat's kind of what it's like to "turn the other cheek", or similar in spirit to: "A soft answer turns away anger." Such an attitude responds to aggression with deliberate kindness and humility rather than being defensive...which is so commonly the knee jerk reaction we all have.
ReplyDeleteSuch a spirit is Christ-like.
God will be the judge of the intentions of our hearts...we are not to repay what we might judge as evil with evil.
Thank you for sharing it teaches us all a wonderful lesson.
Grandma Jo
I remember you told me this story in person, but reading it again just touched my heart too. Praise God for your fatherly discernment and praise God for the outcome! What a beautiful moment for all of you. Now I forgot to ask, how did Violet respond?
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone. It was by God's grace.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember how Violet reacted.