I could tell by the click clack of falling Guess Who? heads that they were not going to sleep. The same sound was a tell-tale sign that they had also decided to completely ignore my directive of "go right to sleep and do not play guess who".
Opening the door just a crack I could tell they were trying to keep things on the low down. Even with my head just a few feet from them I could hardly make out the questions they were asking each other. Were they questioning their decision to deliberately disobey or were they merely inquiring if their competition had blond hair and wore a hat?
Even when they were caught red handed (or dead headed as the game implied), their guilt was negligible. Just to be sure I asked whether they were clear on what I had told them to do.
They repeated back to me verbatim what I had said, still with an air of apathetic ignorance.
"Why then would you do precisely what I told you not to do and not do precisely what I told you to do??"
"She said, 'You wanna play Guess Who?' I was going to go to bed but then she told me to play with her!"
"And you thought that would be ok?"
"Yep."
Sound familiar?
If you're a frequent observer in our home it's because that is my usual mea culpa.
"Honey, I'm really sorry for losing it a moment ago but really, if you hadn't left the laundry that you insisted on doing balled up on the couch for a few hours there would have been no need for me to erupt like that."
I am immediately sorry when I transgress. Sorry that you ever provoked me in the first place.
It also reminded me of Adam and Eve, a familiar story for the girls. We reviewed it together, owning up to the role of Adam or Eve as the profile fit. We acknowledged that each was in the wrong, each of us including me.
When we break one of God's laws, He isn't too concerned with the why's or the who's involved. We missed the golden standard: perfection. Our failure bled bright red on a bed of snowy white.
The good news? The girls were way ahead of me on that. They know the shortest route to forgiveness is through repentance and then, whamo! they're back in the arms of their mama whose pardon is immediate.
I like their approach. Next time I think I'll skip the excuses and instead head right for the mercy that awaits me in my Savior's arms.
Just try not to do something that's going to make me mess up, alright?!
