:the one where we aren't really good at it:

teaching kids to live in love, compromise and show kindness at all cost is hard work. i think it's because we aren't really good at it ourselves, or at least i'm not.

first day of swim class and lieutenant hard-core stands in front, dividing the children into groups. i sit, thinking to myself, i'll be like jesus until she's mean to my kid, then all bets are off. turns out lieutenant hard-core is actually lieutenant teddy-bear but when you've got forty kids in water that do and don't know how to swim, lieutenant hard-core is quite welcome.

he walked by and shoved her bike over for no apparent reason other than he's a boy and boys like to damage things. she cried the cry of one thousand bee stings. i met the little dude on the side walk, eyebrows high, in true mama form.

 it was an accident mommy!
well then help her pick it up buddy.
he did immediately followed by an i'm sorwy eiswy, unprompted.

moments later she was teaching him to ride his bike, cheering peddle durgin! peddle! while jumping up and down.

this back and forth, tossing on the sea of kindness and cruelty, singing hosanna one minute and crucify him the next, never stops, does it?

growing every day, learning to balance the two, taming the latter. bringing every thought into submission until we become like him.

giving without expecting return.
going the extra mile.
turning the other cheek.

we will walk this road together little ones, learning as we go, for two (or three) are better than one.