I had just finished giving Sydney – age five – her goodnight kiss. I started to leave the bedroom when all of a sudden Sydney cried out with great emotion, “I’m a LIAR!!!” This stopped me in my tracks. I turned around to look at her and asked, “What honey?” She was sobbing and said it again, “I’m a liar…I lied at school.” “Hmmm,” I’m thinking to myself, “This could be interesting.” So I went over to her bed, and I asked her to tell me what happened and if she could explain to me what she meant. Through tears she said, “Mommy, I’m a liar. I told the kids at school that I have a gold fish at home (sniff, sniff…) and I don’t have any gold fish…I’m a liar!” It was so hard not to laugh. Her confession was sweet and innocent. I asked her if she wanted to pray and ask God to forgive her. She said yes, and we prayed and asked for God’s forgiveness. Then I told her that everything was okay. God had forgiven her, and she didn’t need to worry about it anymore.
The following morning I called my mom, who lives in South Africa, because this was a story that definitely merited a phone call. Mom and I laughed and laughed as I relayed the details of Sydney’s confession to me the night before. When we finally regained our composure and could talk again, my mom reminded me of a similar story that starred me at age five. I had told all the boys and girls in my class that my Mommy sold balloons at the circus. (In the mind of a kindergartener, selling balloons at the circus must have seemed like a pretty awesome job to have.)
All in all, I guess my conclusion is this: what goes around comes around.
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