I Ducked !

I ducked, and the sound of breaking glass followed instantly, loud in our ears. As I turned, the results of our little scuffle hit us like a brick. We stood looking with our mouths open. There was broken glass on the ground and broken shards of glass still hanging precariously in the window frame.

Mom came around the corner of the house to see what had happened and we realized that we would have to face Dad and explain why the large section of his bedroom window was broken. Neither of us wanted to face the situation, but the hours that followed until Dad arrived home from work gave us time to think in our rooms where Mom send us to cool down. How would we respond when he demanded an explanation?

Fred blamed me for ducking and I blamed him for throwing the rock. I guess we were both at fault for not getting along. We sure wished that we had been a bit slower to anger.

Fred and I had been in the house and something that I had done made him angry with me and to steer clear of his anger, I took off running. I ran down the hallway and out of the front door to evade his catching me. Once outside I had a better chance at avoiding him because I was a fast runner and could keep out of his reach. I ran around the house a couple of times staying comfortably ahead of him. I thought I had lost him when suddenly I found myself standing next to the house just outside of the master bedroom window facing him. He had a rock in his hand and he was good with his aim.

I knew that either way I ran I would be in trouble. To my right, the corner of the house was a good 15 feet away and he would have plenty of time in taking aim to hit me. To my left was the drive way, and would also provide ample time for him to take a good aim. We stood for an instant trying to determine what each other would do next. I waited until he let the rock fly where I stood and ducked just in time for it to speed directly over my head crashing into the bedroom window.

When Dad arrived home, he directed us to clean up the mess and we found that we were working extra chores for the next month to make up for the cost of the window that had to be replaced. It was a good lesson for us both.

I have since thought of the lessons that I learned that day. First, that I needed to be slow to anger and that I should not provoke others to anger. Second, that here are consequences for our actions. And third, that there is forgiveness once we have gone through the steps of repentance.