Apology Accepted?

Sometimes I feel like I just can't get anything right.  Do you know the feeling?

After our retreat two weekends ago, Joel and I decided that we wanted to make more of an effort to talk to the boys about God, although we were both well aware that conversations on that topic have not always gone according to plan in the past.

We bought a new children's bible that breaks the stories down into short bedtime-readable chunks which have led to probing questions about God, Jesus and why Adam and Eve don't tend to their garden with a John Deere tractor. 

But there were good conversations too, about how God is always watching and how we need to treat others kindly and respect each other at all times because sinning makes God sad.  We said our prayers and made sure to tell God that we were sorry for the wrong things we did that day, and asked him to forgive us.

And that's where I lost him.

I really thought I'd explained it thoroughly.  But it became clear, shortly thereafter, that Cael thought I had "blessed" him with a "get-out-of-jail-free" card.  Apparently the main take away from our conversation was that any and all actions are immediately forgotten by mouthing a weak apology.

Sound familiar?

What began as a lesson in kindness degenerated into chaos. 

"Graham, I want that car!  Give it to me!  I'm gonna hit you!" 

Whack!  "Waaah!" 

"Sorry, God."

Whack.  "Sorry again."  Whack-whack!

"Cael, what are you doing?!?"

"It's okay, Mommy.  I told God I was sorry."

But it doesn't really work that easily, does it?  You can't do whatever you want in this life and rely on a presto-change-o death bed redemption to save your soul.  So what must you do?  You give God a heads up.

"Mommy, I want to watch 'Thomas the Train' and Graham wants to watch 'The Iron Giant'!"

"You know the rule, Cael... we take turns.  And you picked last, so it's Graham's turn to choose."

"Ugh.  Sorry, God, for this."

And with that, Cael gave Graham a swift kick in the rear end.

We're doing such a great job making him a better person.  Is it too early to teach him about "an eye for an eye"?