Finding A TreasureSample

Before I Go to Bed

“Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath.

I always remind my children to say their prayers before they go to bed, and they assure me that they always do. But maybe they need to remind their mother to say hers.

It was the last week of school, and everyone knows that week is the hardest. I just happened to be on recess duty when two little boys in trouble are brought to a nearby teacher to be reprimanded.

“Why did you spit on her?” I overheard the teacher asking. At that moment, I realized it was my daughter they were talking about.

As the two little boys faced their teacher realizing how angry she was, God supernaturally gave me the grace to forgive immediately.

But that wasn’t good enough for the devil. He waited until late that night when I was exhausted and brought the whole incident before me all over again. As I retold the story to my husband word for word - wow - the madder I got just thinking about it. My husband and I were overwhelmed at the nerve of two healthy boys who would do this to our child. We were firmly resolved to pick up the phone first thing in the morning and call the principal, the boys’ parents and even the church’s pastor about the boys’ behavior. We recounted the event for at least another thirty minutes and concluded that these two boys would probably be a menace to society.

Then we also started remembering all that God had forgiven us for and how He hadn’t repaid us for our sins. We turned out to be good citizens who love God even though at times in our lives people could have questioned our potential in society. We remembered that we are all a work in progress and in need of a lot of grace. And we remembered what we all did to God’s son and how quickly He forgave us.

So by 11:30 that evening a little more tired, we had come full circle remembering who we are and what we do. We love and live, and each day we have something to forgive because we are God’s children, and we act like Him.

Then John and I prayed that God would forgive us, and we would freely forgive others. Yes, we were angry - and most people would agree that we had a right to be. Yet, God helped us not to sin, and by His help we did not let the sun go down on our wrath.