To Help or Hurt?

Our unique hands that God has given us can be used for helping or hurting. That was the topic of the conversation I had with a sweet little 6 year old today that needed some reminding. When I first heard about how she used her hands for hurting, I started thinking about how I needed to handle this situation so she knew it was not ok to hurt with her hands. At first I started thinking about what consequence I needed to give. Old ways like time outs, no dessert, no tv, earlier bedtime started to pop up in my head. But then grace came in. My heart knew that time outs are not beneficial for children that have come from hard places. Losing dessert would tie this back to food & this sweet little girl needed to know she would always have food with us. No tv didn't make sense because the action had nothing to do with tv. Also going to bed early would only make her feel like I didn't want her around. It would be different if I knew her little body was tired and needed some extra rest. I thought about what she used to do the wrong action. She used her hands. I wanted to get across to her little heart that our hands are for helping not hurting. I waited to talk to her about this until after we were home from school, homework was done & she had her snack. I knew this could turn emotional real quick & I didn't want to set her up to fail if I talked to her without her having a snack first. This was also a learning moment for the other kids that were around. We sat on the couch and talked. She needed to be reassured of my love for her even though she did something wrong. So thankful my Savior does the same thing for me & so graciously allowed me to share that love with this sweet little heart. After our talk she used her hands to help by writing an apology letter & drawing a picture for the child she hurt & then she used her hands to be a helper by helping to fold towels. She was excited to use her hands to help. After she was done I asked her what she liked better. To use her hands to hurt or to help? She said to help. We said a little saying together a couple times, "hands are made for helping, not hurting." I reassured her once again of my love for her & then she went to play. In the past my heart would have been quick to crush instead of quick to show grace. I am so thankful that God continues to mold & shape my heart to become more & more like His Son Jesus. He so graciously teaches our hearts & reassures us of His love for us over & over again.