We have two locked rooms is our house, one is my workshop where I keep my tools and the other is my home office where I keep my other tools. Last night I sent my seven-year old daughter down with the keys to my workshop to get me something. I soon realized that she also used the keys to go into my office.
I often have trouble with the kids going into my office. My army stuff, my fish tank and my roll top desk full of surprises is down there. An irresistible combination for young children.
When I realized that my daughter was poking around in my office, I started to yell for her to get out. When she did not get out right away, I began to yell more. I felt pretty justified in my yelling.
After the kids went to bed for the night, I went down to my office. The first thing I noticed was a pink sticky note on my computer screen saying, “I love you Dad.”
I really felt like a jerk.
In my mind, I had decided she was sneaking around in my office, getting into things and making a mess. It never entered my mind that she would be leaving me a love note.
How often do we make assumptions about people’s motives? We take a surface glance at their actions and decide we know why they did what they did. If we really knew their reasons, we might not be so quick to judge. Perhaps it is time to slow down and discover the real story.
I hope I learned my lesson.
