forgiveness

We have a white board in our kitchen where I write reminders and "to do" lists.  I also use it when disciplining my children.  Bad behavior gets your name with a frowny face.  Likewise, when I catch my children being kind to one another or obeying quickly and cheerfully, they get lots of smiley faces.  So this morning Palmer was giving me TONS and TONS of grief as we were getting ready for school.  At the end of my rope, I angrily wrote his name on the board with a big frowny face in red.  It didn't make our morning go any smoother, but it made me feel better.
When he came home from school, he apologized right off the bus and we enjoyed some wonderful one on one time while the little ones napped.  After a while, he looked at me and said "Mommy, can I erase my frowny face?"  Part of me wanted to say, "No, you earned that frowny face this morning -- do you remember how you treated me?  How disrespectful and irrational you were?"
I almost said, " I'll give you a smiley face for this afternoon, but the frowny face stays for this morning."
 But then a still, small voice reminded me that the Lord erases our frowny faces -- he doesn't give us a frowny face followed by a smiley face.  He forgives us completely.

Come now let us reason together , says the LORD. 'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow . . . '
Isaiah 1:18a

Palmer got to rewrite his name and he gave himself 7 smiley faces -- he is happy to be forgiven and so am I.