Passing Notes

I had not had a good day with one of my daughters. When I said, "Don't," she did it. When I said, "Do it," she refused. When I smiled, she frowned. When I frowned, she smiled. By day's end, I was pretty frustrated and let her know it.

While cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, I noticed her slip quietly into my bedroom. "What are you doing?" I asked. Without looking at me, she muttered, "I left something for you."

Next to my computer lay a note. "I don't want to live here anymore," she had scrawled angrily. Still a little steamed by the way the day had progressed, I hastily wrote, "Some days I don't want to live here either." I carried it back to her room and dropped it just inside her doorway, then continued getting the other kids ready for bed.

A little while later I again found a note next to my computer. I responded. So did she. Back and forth the letters went from her room to mine and back again. And then we passed each other in the hall. She simply handed the note to me. I wrote out a response and handed it back.

Finally, she was quietly standing at my doorway. "Would you like to talk?" I asked. "Okay," she shrugged. We sat down on my bed and shared our hearts. Tears flowed. The wall between us was torn down and a bridge built up again in its place.

Passing notes isn't my usual method of solving differences, but it worked for her. Thank You, Lord, for yet another victory today!