Zoo trips, ice cream and God's grace

My kids had a horrible week last week.  They were cranky, mean, and very disrespectful.  They had melt-downs galore and pitched major tantrums.  By Friday I had had my fill of badly behaved children.  So on Saturday, Ken and I decided it was time to teach them a serious lesson.  We were going to make them suffer the consequences of their sinful actions...we took them to the zoo and later went out for ice cream!  Just in case you are starting to judge my parenting, this is not our normal reaction to misbehavior.  But, something made me feel differently this time.  All week long, I had felt irritated with them.  Why couldn't they just listen?  Why were they choosing to disobey me?  Why were they being so mean-spirited to me and to each other?  Then I realized something about myself as I watched my children.  I am very much like a child in my relationship with my Heavenly Father.  I have His Word and His Spirit to help me understand it and apply its truth to my life.  But do I always listen?  I know when I am choosing to sin, but does that always stop me?  I cause a lot of the discord in my relationships with my brothers and sisters in Christ.  My sin often distances my heart from the One who has loved me so perfectly.  Does God get irritated with me?  Does He feel disappointed in me?  I realized as I looked at my life, that the times that I most need a spanking, I often get zoo trips and ice cream.  This is what we call grace.  Not only do we not get the punishment we deserve from our Heavenly Father (Jesus bore that for us on the cross), but we get gracious and abundant gifts from Him instead.  It is God's KINDNESS that draws us to repentance--that changes our hearts to love Him and WANT to obey Him.  So, this past weekend I actually enjoyed my children at the zoo and ice cream store.  I didn't enjoy them because they were well-behaved or perfect.  I enjoyed them because they are mine.  They are my delight, no matter how they are behaving at the present moment.  They are precious to me simply because they are my children.  Look at those little faces, dripping with ice cream, and remember that you are precious to God because you belong to Him.  Now, if I can just remember this lesson I've learned the next time they act a fool in public and embarrass me...  :)