Stupid Arguments

9/13/2007

"You've only been up for twenty minutes," I exclaimed. "How can you be fighting already?"

"Katie said that I carried a purse as my backpack when I was in Kindergarten and I didn't," Hollie cried.

"Why are you fighting about something that may or may not have happened three years ago?"

"Because I know she carried a purse instead of a backpack," Katie announced with conviction.

"I did not!" Hollie shouted back.

"We need to go or you'll be late for school," I said to the girls as I grabbed my purse and led the way to the garage. "Let's get in the van."

The tension between the girls escalated as Katie squeezed past Hollie's seat, elbowing her in the process.

"Mom," Hollie cried. "Katie hit me!"

"You both need to make up before we get to school," I said as I backed out of the driveway.

What verse can I mention to convince them to get along? I asked myself as I turned the key to start the van.

Not good about committing anything to memory, I knew the information I needed would not come to me while driving. Instead, I reached for the business card holder I had purchased the week before and filled with the rhymes and scripture that would come in handy during stressful parenting times.

"Katie, this is full of verses," I said as I handed the holder back to where she was sitting. "Why don't you find one about fighting?"

"I am not looking up anything," Katie said emphatically.

"Then I am not dropping you off at school," I explained. "I'll just drive around the block until you do find a verse and then you'll have to explain to your teacher why you were late."

"Fine!" Katie huffed as she took the holder from my hand.

"I think there's one about foolish arguments in there," I suggested. "Do you see it?"

Always up for a challenge, Katie's attitude shifted from belligerent to diligent as she scanned the pages for the correct verse.

"Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels," she read after locating 2 Timothy 2:23

"What's a quarrel?" Hollie asked.

"It's another word for fight," I explained. "That verse is telling you that it's foolish to argue about something that happened three years ago and doesn't matter today."

"I'm sorry, Katie," Hollie said.

My daughters were in good spirits as I pulled up to the curb in front of their school, grateful for getting to sit in on their first lesson of the day from the greatest textbook ever written.