The Stomped

The neighbor kids were playing at our house yesterday and they were all upstairs in the hallway with their Lego. All was well, so it seemed. I was upstairs too working on the piles of laundry my husband had brought home from the used uniform sale at the school the day before, blessings on my children!
Suddenly, my son burst out in tears, and came running towards me holding his hand up. "What happened?" I inquired.
"She stomped on my finger as hard as she could!" He wailed.
I looked at my daughter, who now had a little smirk on her face and asked her if she had indeed stomped on his hand. She shook her head yes, then confessed, "he had my rubber band and I needed it."
I asked, "did you think about using your words and asking for the rubber band?"
"No" she said.
At this point, her smirk was disappeared as she began to realize the folly of her ways. The neighbor girl decided that she was going to "wait outside", and my son tuned up his wailing , just a notch.
My daughter went to the bedroom to think for awhile, and my son calmed down, although his feelings were not easily soothed. He continued to play Lego with his friend, but resentment towards his sister was oozing through his bones.
I went into the bedroom and talked with my daughter about the value of using words rather than just stomping around to get what she wants. And, even though I am not convinced she totally got what I was trying to say to her, she did go to her brother and say to him that she was sorry. There was a bit of a stomp in her walk as she did it though!
As I watch my two youngest children grow, I know God is challenging me to grow in all of these areas! I can be such a stomper! I see myself in my children and I hear God whispering "Bethany, didn't you just stomp on that friend of yours the other day?" It may not look exactly the same, it is better disguised. But, it is stomping, and it's not okay.
I've been praying a lot for God to reveal truth to me, for Him to show me His glory and guide me along the path of His will. He certainly has been doing that through my children. I'm watching them grow, and learning to grow myself, they are teaching me.
Jesus, Say That Again, your truth is revealed in many ways, thank you for using my children.