I have to tell the story of one of my sweetest moments with Isaac thus far. It happened last night and I know that if I don't write it down I'll forget it. We had gotten home from Panera and he had a piece of cookie left in a bag. I told him that he could eat that one piece and no more (I also had a piece of cookie left). A few minutes later he came into the kitchen holding the empty cookie bag with a sneaky little grin on his face. I looked at him and said, "Isaac, that was not right you should not have done that". And he asked, "did I lie?" I said, "no you did not lie, you stole." "What did I steal," he asked? I said, "you stole that other piece of cookie." He asked whose it was. And I told him that he stole my last piece of cookie. (In my heart I was not angry at all, I just wanted him to understand that he should come and ask first and he should not just take something that he was told not to take). So he walked away. About five mintues later I heard a little voice calling from the next room. "I'm sorry I took your cookie." I walked around the corner. "What did you say?". He was peaking up from behind the couch with a sad little face and said again, "I'm sorry that I ate your cookie." I could tell that he was truely upset. I pulled him onto my lap and and I told him that I forgive him, and that God forgives him. I said that he does not need to feel guilty anymore. It's OK. And as I told him how much I love him, tears were just streaming out of his sweet eyes and crashing down onto his shoulders. My heart was just overflowing with love for this sweet boy.
As I told the story to Dan last night it became clear how beautiful and redemptive true confession is. How much more does our heavenly father want to hold us in his lap and tell us that it is OK. We don't need to feel guilty anymore. We don't need to hide. We are forgiven and we are loved. I hope that I will approach my heavenly father as Isaac approached me last night and that I will let him grab me up onto his lap and dry my tears and console my heart. Thank you Isaac for this beautiful story.