Whatever your religion, (I consider Atheism a "religion" - but if you don't want to call it a religion, I don't think anybody else should tell you what to call it. Some people don't think I'm Christian, but I claim the right to call myself Christian if I believe I'm Christian - that's who should decide, the person calling themselves the religion - or nonreligion - not some snooty old committee), the truth of repentance or change is true. I believe that Christ changed the natural continuance and consequence of time, so that when we repent of a mistake (have a true change of heart) we can be as happy as we would have if we had never made the mistake. Life may not be exactly the same as it would have been if we hadn't made the mistake, but we can be as happy or happier than we would have been if we hadn't made the mistake. Whatever ones beliefs, I think this is the most important truth we can pass on to our kids. That we make mistakes, and that we can change.
Last time I yelled at my teenager, I felt so bad. I thought, "Oh, he's going to hate me! I always yell at him and then apologize. He's going to be sick of it and not forgive me this time. If I apologize now, he will be offended and ask why I even bother to apologize if I'm just going to yell again, and again."
But what was I to do? I couldn't just not apologize. So more because I couldn't live without being honest with myself, than for his sake, with trepidation in my heart, I meekly went up to him and apologized.
He laughed! He smiled and said, "I knew you would apologize! I was counting in my head, and watching you, and I knew you wouldn't last to the count of 10!" He just thought it was funny that I was so predictable! Oh, the sweet joy of being forgiven! And I'm so thankful that my son knows my heart. I am so thankful that he knows that when I yell I don't really mean it and has the security that I will almost immediately apologize. I am more than thankful for the resilience of children!
This life is to learn and to grow. The flexibility of repentance and change allow us to do this. If we don't believe in being forgiven, we are like a dead stick. When a dead stick is bent, it snaps. When we think of ourselves as unchangeable, we must either deceive ourselves that our actions are good even when we know they are not, and refuse to live life as we please (a horrible controlling trap) or we think of our actions as irreparable. Like the stick has snapped, and we can never strive to be good, as we are, and now always will be, bad. Christ (or whatever your belief in change is) is the life of a stick. "... I am the
If a live stick is bent, it will merely bend, and snap back. Though sometimes not to exactly the same place as before.
I love Mo Willems! He has often been compared to the great Seuss, and rightly so!
He is so amazing! He has given those who don't read that well, the freedom to enjoy not just books, but truly good literature! This is my favorite book by him:
It is about an Elephant named Gerald who ends up accidentally ruining his own plans. And about how, through the love of someone else, he ended up just as happy as if he hadn't ruined them. Not the same, but just as happy. It is a simple and profound text. Easy enough that many people may be able to discover how to read from it.
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