(I bought this bucket to put Spelt Flour in, Eli first decided to carry around random household items, including my dirty crocs in it. I'd just cleaned it out again, and turned around to find this)
I watched this video and I was very inspired. (Note click on "this video" to watch it) There is a man in the video talking about his path in life and how he couldn't believe that God would still be there for him. I couldn't help but think of my little Eli. When he does something wrong, I honestly, with all my heart want to forgive him. I don't like throwing him in time out, I hate taking away his toys, I wish I could just always buy him candy. If I had it my way, then we would just always get along perfectly, and I would never have to wield the hammer of justice, unless I was pretending to be Thor while we were playing.
Eli could burn or break my most treasured possession, and I would still want to forgive him, because nothing is more precious than him. No matter what he says and does, no matter how hard a time we have, he's still my little angel, and I always want him.
When I think of how we discipline and how God in turn works with us, I often think of the scripture that talks about "Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy;" (Doctrine and Covenants 121:43)
Heavenly Father loves us enough to let us feel the consequences of our actions, at least enough to learn. I say that, but I know it ends up being like with Eli. He spills a whole box of crackers and I tell him he has to pick it up, and I of course help him. He picks up enough to learn his lesson about being careful or not throwing the box when he's mad, or whatever happened, but I offer whatever mercy I can, just because I love him.
God does that with us too. There are so many times that I have really gotten in over my head or that I have done things that I can never undo. He lets me feel enough to learn my lesson and I do whatever I can to correct the situation, but God is always there. I feel like I've done and hurt so much, when really I probably barely got 5 crackers to his 100 in the box to clean up the mess that was really all my fault to begin with.
But, just as I would NEVER turn away from Eli and just say, yeah you've just messed up too much this time, God will NEVER turn away from us. If you think about it, in the grand scheme of things, even the worst things we do, probably God looks at them much the same way I look at some of the worst things little Eli does. Yeah this is a mess, and we're going to have to work together to clean up the spilled paint and find a way to make this look right again, but we'll make it right and I'll be there to help. God doesn't care where we are or how far we've strayed from the path, He just wants you to know He's always going to be there to help you. He's forever patient, He doesn't care how many times you do the same dumb things. He just wants you back with Him, no matter how long or hard the road, and He's going to be there with you every step of the way.
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