Remembering the HEART

I am so glad we went grocery shopping yesterday. A winter storm hit with little to no warning, and it is cold and nasty outside.

When we got home, EE and AA ran inside. I didn't see MM, so I thought she had too (as she usually does). I grabbed some groceries, and came inside. When I went back out for MORE groceries, I ran into MM, who had the BIGGEST grin on her face. She was carrying a bag. A bag of groceries that were supposed to stay in the car so we had snacks for the children in case we ever got stuck somewhere or were running late and not able to get home to eat.

So I swept up MM AND the bag and twirled them both around and gave her lots of praises for such a good job helping Momma bringing in the groceries ... and without even being asked to! We giggled and put away the groceries together.

You see, even though the actions of bringing in a bag that was supposed to stay in the car was wrong, the heart ... OH HER PRECIOUS HEART behind it ... was to please Momma.

How many times have my children done something and I looked at their actions instead of their heart? How many times have I stomped on their heart because their actions were "not thoughtful" and were inconvenient to me? I hope this was one of a MILLION times where I remember to build up my daughter instead of tearing her down because I looked at her heart rather than her actions.