Forgiveness of a Child

I have a lot to learn about forgiveness and God seems to want to teach this to me through my six month old baby girl. 

So she was going through a bit of a growth spurt just a little while ago which meant that I got to wake up every 2 1/2 to 3 hours during the night for about a week to feed her. She would wake up starving - so her cries told me, eat, then go back to sleep. While this was alright with me for the first couple of days but after about day 5 my patience was seriously waning.  At one of these 5 am feedings I was feeling particularly frustrated and just looked at her and said, "Seriously Kathryn, it is time for sleep" in a more frustrated tone than I would have liked. As soon as I heard myself I apologized to her (hey, it is never to early to humble yourself to your little baby I figure -- I messed up) telling her I was sorry and that I loved her. 

Well, she must have understood me more than I thought - or I was still delirious from lack of sleep because she grabbed at my face, gave me a big slobbery kiss and laid her head on my shoulder. 

Wow, talk about instant forgiveness. I know that sometimes I will tell people "it's okay" when they say sorry yet I don't feel that in my heart, but not this little girl. She forgave her Mommy for messing up and didn't hold it against me at all. That night she really taught me about how God will forgive me to when I am able to humble myself to Him. I know that I will still mess up but I also know that I am still doing well and on this journey.