Bananas and the Atonement

You know how a few days ago we had the banana blunder? Well, my oh my, the life lessons we learn… Grace was playing with a banana like a gun and the top broke. I told Grace that she had better eat it so it wouldn’t go to waste. Then she said that she didn’t want to eat it because it was gooey. In order to establish my authority, I made her take a bite and she gagged and just about threw up. She was being completely ridiculous. Then she absolutely refused to eat the banana. After a while she had pretty much decided to not go to Jackson’s birthday party because she did not want to eat that silly banana. Then I had Kaden get ready for the party and suddenly she realized that she was going to miss out on something great, but she still didn’t want to eat the silly thing. So after much crying and whining and me not giving in Kaden finally pipes in, “Grace… I will eat the banana for you.” Can we just think about that for a moment? Grace’s older brother saying, “I will eat the banana for you.” What a selfless act of sacrifice. So I tell Kaden he just needs to eat half of the banana and Grace needs to eat the rest. Amazingly when Kaden ate half of the banana Grace easily ate her half. Then when they were done and the banana was eaten Kaden turned to Grace and said, “Grace, I really wanted you to come to the party. I didn’t want you to miss the party.”

Can I just say that I am a very proud Mama and that my boy just about had me in tears? Not just because he was being a very nice big brother but because I could not help but to think of our older brother the Savior and the ultimate act of service he has provided for us, his younger brothers and sisters. He loves us so much that he asked Heavenly Father if he could atone for our sins so that we can go to the big party in heaven and return to our Father. We just have to do our part and meet him half way. Put away our pride and just let the Savior take care of us.