Anything I Say, Think, or Do

Man Cub defines a sin as anything we say, think or do that makes God sad. One day, as we were discussing a verse he was learning for AWANA, we talked about sin. As we talked, the THINK part really clicked with him. I probably did not get that until like, LAST YEAR or something! He looked at me so serious and said, "You mean if I think about something like, punching my mom , that is a sin?" First off, I am pretty sure that is not just some random example! I sat and listened and smiled inside that he used such specifics for his example. I asked, "Well, what is a sin?" He repeated the definition and when he said THINK, he froze with a look of shock that he had been sinning. It was so precious to me! Not because he was busted for the "punch mama" part but because he understood and had reached another level of spiritual maturity. To follow up this discussion, I began confessing some of my sins out loud with the children at bedtime, the ones I thought they may identify with, not all of them because they do need to sleep! Our friends have already shared their idea of the children participating in a thanksgiving session- adding confessions went right along with our thanksgiving! Even though I may not be aware of their understanding or all that they had done that day, at ages 5 and 7, they were able to identify at least one sin and usually more whether I caught them in the act or not. One night, out of exhaustion, one of the children could not think of anything. The other child proceeded to tell them what they needed to confess,but true confession has to come from our own hearts--although isn't just like us to have our eyes on others! This little accountability group has also made me more aware of the sin in my life, no matter how great or small it seems. It is anything I say, think or do that displeases the one who loves me most and the forgiveness from that leads me right into a thanksgiving session.