We had a very interesting dinner conversation the other evening regarding patience. I wanted to share it in the previous post about the beauty of patience, but I didn’t have time to make it work. So, I’ll share it now.

I think it was last Saturday. As usual, we were together all day. Being that we’re a house full of sinners, by the end of the day we were all grating on one another’s nerves. Abbey was annoying Hannah. Noah was annoying Benjamin. Benjamin wasn’t helping Karl the way he wanted him to. And everybody was workin’ on my nerves while I was trying to get some dinner on the table. Eventually, we all sat down in a huff.

Finding someone to say the blessing was tad difficult. After all, no one wants to pray for God’s blessing right after they’ve yelled at someone else: the two just don’t go together. After a few moments of silence (letting the food get cold, I might add), Benjamin asked the blessing for our food. Then he began one of the most healing dinner conversations we’ve had in a while.

“Why are we being mean to each other?” he asked.

“Because we’re sinners. We all treat one another badly sometimes…basically because we’re selfish. And we’ve all be very impatient with one another today for some reason. I think it’d be a good idea if we all apologized to one another,” replied one of the wise adults sitting at the table.
(She’s got the cure, but can she take her own medicine? We’ll see).

The other wise adult spoke first. He went around the table apologizing to every person for a specific offense he committed that day. And each person replied in turn with, “I forgive you.”

We just went around the table confessing, apologizing, and forgiving.

I spent the entire time chewing my food slowly and fighting my tears. I almost could not stand the power of God’s grace in those moments. Then it was my turn.

As I listened to everyone else, I considered what I would confess and who exactly I needed to ask forgiveness. I realized that my greatest offense that day had not been impatience per se, but much worse, in my opinion. I had gone through the day without any joy. I had not performed my service with gladness and thanksgiving. I had been a grouch. I spent the day grumbling and asking God questions like, “Why did you make me a mother? Clearly, I’m not good at this!”

So, my confession was hard for me to express, but I did it because it was the God-honoring thing to do and because I knew I would feel better afterwards.

“You guys, the Bible says to serve the Lord with gladness, be joyful, and thankful. I didn’t do that today. Instead, in my heart I was rebellious toward God and it showed in the way I acted today. I’m sorry.”

When I finished, I heard the sweetest words a human can hear: “I forgive you.” And I heard it five times.