I Told You So

For Morgan’s birthday, some friends gave her a small horse on wheels. Halle loved it, so she invoked the law of “the best stuff belongs to the older sister”. This law was enacted by the first siblings, Cain and Abel, and remains popular among first-born children everywhere. This horse traveled with us to Lowes about a month ago to pick out paint. Somewhere between visiting the Garden section, paint section, and Shiny-Things-That-Catch-My-Eye section, Horse was lost. We did a thorough search for him, but turned up nothing. I told Halle that some kid probably picked it up. She was devastated.

Every day since then, Halle would ask me if we could return to Lowes and look for Horse. Every day, I would deliver the horrible news that Horse was lost forever. A sympathetic friend heard of our predicament, and so bought a duplicate and arranged a meeting with us at Lowes. She hid the horse among some plants, and informed me of its location. Halle was delighted. The first words out of her mouth were, “I told you, Mom! I knew that some kid didn’t pick it up, and I was right! Horse was hiding!”

“I told you so” is one of the most satisfying things to say and one of the most irritating to hear. When we got Monkey Cat, I warned Halle about rough handling, telling her that Monkey Cat would scratch her up if she didn’t treat her kindly. One morning, I found Halle quietly sobbing into the couch. I picked her up and saw a bleeding ear, arm, and cheek. She had hidden her wounds and sorrow to avoid hearing “I told you so”. I explained that I had warned her so that she wouldn’t have to get bit up, but that I wasn’t angry with her or triumphant.

So often we put off repentance because we are afraid of the other person’s triumphant response. What a blessing that we know from Hebrews that we can approach the throne of grace with confidence, and that from Romans it is the kindness of the Lord that leads us to repentance.