As in most homes, if one of our children does something knowingly wrong, he or she most often faces an established consequence.  However, on occasion, my children will receive “mercy,” or not having to endure the consequence of a wrong doing.  For example, if a child complains of being “bored,” the established consequence is to immediately find a messy room and clean it completely before moving on to any other activity.  On occasion, however, mercy will be granted and the child is allowed to search out an enjoyable activity without first having to clean a room.  Furthermore, on an extremely rare occasion the children may receive “grace,” or a REWARD given after a wrongdoing.  Sounds crazy, huh?  For example, my children were warned repeatedly about leaving their bicycles in the driveway.  One morning we woke and I went out the front door to find three bicycles lying in the driveway, wet from the previous night’s rain.  My inclination was to blow up and remove their privilege of riding bikes for at least 15 years, but instead I returned to the house, asked the children to get their shoes on, and I took them out for donuts.  I explained over our sugary breakfast that this was grace … to be given a wonderful gift (what could be more wonderful to children than donuts?) when what they deserved was punishment.  Yes, this is crazy parental behavior, but God does this for us every day!  Romans 6:23 explains that “the wages for sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  We deserve death for all the wrongdoings we commit, but God instead gives life everlasting in a world more perfect than we could ever imagine.  What AMAZING GRACE!  Again, I must admit that I do not recall where I learned this clever teaching tool, but to whoever you are who thought of this idea, I thank you.  This simple tradition has made an impression on my children, and for that I thank God.