“Two Minute Forgiveness”

My two year old twins are the source of most of my entertainment, joy and even some life lessons. In our home we have been doing "time outs" for bad behavior. The famous time out rule is one minute for every year of age. Thus, whenever my kids misbehave they get two minutes in the time out corner. The time out technique has actually proven to be quite effective. Usually, my daughter gets put on time out for biting and my son gets put on time out for pushing or taking a toy from his sister, he is bigger and can easily overpower her. Surprisingly both of my children stay in the time out corner until the two minute timer beeps. We wanted to teach our children to say they were sorry at the end of the time out but found it difficult to teach the words so we have taught them to hug each other, or the one they hurt, at the end of their time out to say they are sorry. Now that we have perfected our response to misbehavior we have found some interesting insights.

One insight is the fact that as soon as the timer beeps they immediately go hug the other and simply continue playing like they are best friends. There is no holding a grudge or staying upset. What is at hand, their toys and play time, is more important than holding a grudge. We need to see what is at hand for us as believer's and realize that what is at hand is more important than holding a grudge or staying upset. We need to put into practice some two minute forgiveness and focus on the business at hand.

Another insight is that we often have to make sure the one that is not in time out does not go and try to play with the one who is in time out. It is amazing to see when my daughter is on time out for biting, that her brother will come over and try to give her a toy while she is on time out. The interactions seem to say, "I know you are sorry and I forgive you, let's just go back to playing together". The bite mark still fresh on his little arm and it is more important to forgive. No matter the scenario both of my children seem to forgive so quickly and go back to playing happily.

What if we were like this as adults? As Christians? What if we experienced an offense but then quickly forgave and quickly went back to interacting as if nothing was amiss? What if we implemented two minute forgiveness and got on with the more important things at stake in the Christian life? How different would our Christian lives be if we really forgave this quickly and this completely? We need to hurry up and deal with the misbehavior done to us with a two minute time out, quickly hug and say you're sorry and go back to the more important things at hand!