Sunday Afternoon

One of my favorite times of the week is Sunday afternoon. Coming home from church, reflecting on the prayers requests and praises from friends, meditating on the hymns and songs and taking to heart the instruction from the Scriptures. Sunday lunch and then relaxing and quiet time. A day to set aside and not do the ordinary. Yesterday was such a day. The music was wonderful and uplifting, and the sermon was challenging and a hard message to preach and to hear. Lunch from Boston Market was a treat and a special request from the kids. The weather was so nice that I sent the boys outside to kick around the soccer ball and run off some steam. Megan was content relaxing on the couch with the remote control. I busied myself with the weekly task of paying the bills and getting caught up on paperwork. Shortly thereafter the peace and quiet of the day ended abruptly. . .

The boys were back in the house and playing "kitty" in the living room (off-limits). While chasing them out of the room, Billy informed me that Michael had a marker and had written on the wall. Mind you, Michael was disciplined for writing on walls (with crayons, pencils, etc.) three times already. I ran into the living room and proceeded to have a panic attack. For the second time in 2 years, I had modern art on my living room walls courtesy of my son and a Sharpie marker. After having a panic attack on the couch and sobbing until no more tears would flow,(the kids were smart enough to take cover in another room) I got up the strength to try to remove the permanent blue in from my wall. I sequestered the offender to the bathroom for a lengthy time out and enlisted Billy and Megan to assist in the graffeti removal. Praise the Lord for the glaze treatment on the walls, Soft Scrub and human elbow grease. With lots of scrubbing by the three of us, we managed to remove the artwork from the wall. Michael was disciplined and all perament markers have been sent to the landfill.

Did I react appropriately, No. Did God answer my prayer to allow the ink to come off the wall, Yes. Did my children learn a lesson, I truly hope so. After the stress of the day I was able to ask forgiveness from my childern for not reacting appropriately to the situation. I'm glad that my Father in Heaven can clean the "ink stains" in my life and restore me. I'm glad that he grants forgivness for my sins. A hard lesson for all of us to learn and a very long Sunday afternoon.