Last night, Matt found 2 bars of Ethel’s chocolate that I purchased for him for Valentine’s Day back in 2009. We had tucked them away in a drawer in our bedroom to save for later, and then completely forgot about them. Matt is a candy hoarder anyway because he likes to keep a secret stash, but we sincerely did forget about those chocolates! He found them and pulled them out and said, “We should eat these!” I was excited at the prospect.
This morning, I found Zach with one of them, trying to gnaw it open. I took it away and told him that he cannot just take food because it isn’t his. It was Daddy’s. Then I put it back in our bedroom. The kids and I had some quiet, peaceful time during Nathaniel’s nap and everyone was playing quietly, or so I thought. While Rissa was frustrated with me for taking away her baby’s bottle full of water that she had so carefully filled at the sink because Baby Annie can ONLY drink her bottle while sitting on her potty and there was no potty to be found, Zach snuck into our room and snuck out.
He came back later with an empty wrapper and told me that he had eaten Daddy’s chocolate. I was furious and Daddy was furious. We were looking forward to sharing it and it seems like 2 ounces of fine dark chocolate would be a bad idea for a little boy’s digestive system! Augh!
Zach admitted (rather proudly, but at least he didn’t hide his sin) to me that he ate it. Then he had to call Daddy and admit it to him. He felt sad that Daddy said, “Zach, I am very angry.” Zach said that he went to eat it on the couch and hid under a blanket. We hung up with Daddy and I thought of a story. I shared this story with the kids and I thought I’d share it with you too because it makes me stop and pause.
“Once upon a time, there were some people named Adam and Eve. They were friends with God! He created them and He loved them and told them to go have fun, live their lives, and be His friend. And they did for awhile. God gave them a special garden and all the animal friends to be with. He also told them that the only thing they couldn’t do was eat some fruit from a certain tree, just like Mommy told Zach that he couldn’t eat Daddy’s chocolate. Did they eat it after God said no? Well, not for awhile. But then they did. And they felt something in their hearts after they ate it because they knew they were making a bad choice. They felt shame. And they went to hide. Just like Zach hid under the blanket on the couch because he knew he was making a bad choice. He felt shame in his heart.
And God said, ‘Adam and Eve, where are you?’ God knew they were hiding but he wanted them to come out and tell Him. So they came out and said they were hiding. Do you think they told God what they did? <the kids nod> No. They blamed each other. ‘It was HER fault!’ ‘It was HIS fault!’ Did they tell God sorry? <the kids nod again> No, they didn’t. God was very sad. He had told them that if they didn’t obey, there would be a punishment. God hoped they would make a good choice and obey because He didn’t want to give the punishment. But they didn’t. It makes me sad to give a punishment too.”
I stopped here and the kids waited. I was done, I had told the story. Zach’s behavior was just like the account in the Bible. I wanted to leave the weight of it hanging there so that the kids could consider what I had said. And then Rissa said, “Can you finish the story, Mommy?”
Wow. She knew there was more! She knew that story-telling conventions don’t allow for the story to end with “ugh, it was awful and that’s all there is. No hope. Ever.” There had to be some way for Adam and Eve to be friends with God again, right? But what could it be?
So I told them about Jesus. He makes it right for all the times that we make mistakes, just like Adam and Eve did and just like Zach did. He takes the punishment that God is very sad about, even though He never made a bad choice. And now we can be friends with God again. Because of Jesus. I’m so glad there is more to the story of our lives than our mistakes, aren’t you?