#340.4 – “Excuses”

“And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?" Then the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate." And the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."” - Genesis 3:11-13
Last Tuesday, Anna was sick and missed school. Wednesday morning, I was writing her a note to take to school (just to explain why she had been out)… when she tells me that she had homework from Monday that she did not do. She asked me while I was writing that note (which goes to the principal’s office) if I would write another one (for her teacher) saying that she was sick Tuesday and therefore did not do her homework that was due Wednesday. The only problem I had with that was that she could have done it on Monday night; she was not sick then. Of course, Grant did have a ballgame that night… but there are many times when she brings a book to read during his game… and there have been times when she has done homework during a game. The fact is that she could have easily done it then; she just didn’t want to. And the thing that aggravated me the most about it all was that she did not tell me about this homework until Wednesday morning, when we were on the way out the door to go to school.
So I told her that I could not do that for her. I felt that it was not right for me to alleviate the consequences of her choosing not to do it on Monday by writing a note of excuse for her on Wednesday morning. I felt that this was a lesson she needed to learn – that she is responsible for her actions and she could not reasonably expect me to ‘fix’ things for her that she has caused. And so I didn’t. I explained why I didn’t, but I didn’t. Later she told me that she was able to get it done during lunch period (which was great to me, because it showed me that she knew she had to ‘fix’ this herself, and she did).
Responsibility is sometimes a hard lesson to learn. I think about Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden; when confronted by God with their disobedience, they both blamed someone else. They were not willing to take responsibility for their actions.
We all must learn that our choices have consequences – sometimes for us only... sometimes for others, too… and all the time in relation to God – and that we are solely responsible for our choices.

Daniel