a lesson in forgiveness

first of all, i want to say thanks to those of you who have told me you're reading! just know, you're encouraging me to do more...which could be a good thing or a bad one!
this morning, i got schooled in forgiveness and unconditional love, and not for the first time. emmy and i went to meijer to do some grocery shopping, and she has apparently hit the phase where she's impossible to grocery shop with. she wanted to hold anything she saw, and whined until i gave it to her. then i made the mistake of taking my cell phone out to call a friend to see if i needed to pick something up for our small group tonight. i called her house first, where her son told me she had gone to the doctor. i tried her cell in case she was en route and got voicemail. i was about to text her (note: i don't have a texting plan and was only doing this because it was urgent), but my little peanut was wailing because she wanted to hold the phone. so i gave in (a theme in my life as a mother) and let her play with it the rest of the time we were shopping. unfortunately, sometime while i was at the self-checkout, she dropped it. i couldn't see it on the floor, so i pulled the cart over after i'd finished to search everything and make sure i didn't leave it behind. it took lots of frantic searching on my part, during which emmy was whining and crying and making me more frantic, but finally i found it and we moved on. she proceeded to cry the whole way to the car, which i couldn't remember where i had parked, and then scream as i buckled her into her car seat. thankfully, a little after we got moving, she calmed down. my gas gauge was in the red, and i have a play date across town first thing tomorrow morning, so i wanted to fill up really quickly. i get things situated at the pump, still fuming and almost crying about the whole meijer situation, and i peek into the back window to see how emmy is. she lights up with the biggest smile, and we proceed to play peekaboo the whole time the gas is pumping.
let me tell you, while that smile warmed my heart, it also brought a feeling of guilt. the baby i had been ready to yell at i was so frustrated (and i'm not a yeller) had totally forgotten her discomfort and her anger with me for making her grocery shop with me. things like this happen more often than i care to admit, where she and i get upset at each other, and then she turns to me for comfort from that hurt, or gets over it quickly and goes back to playing with me. i know it won't be like this forever, but at least for now, i am thankful for my daughter's unconditional love and forgiveness; for what it shows me about how God must feel for us, for the growth it shows i need in these areas, and for the way her return to joy brings me back, too.