You can learn that from me! You’re welcome! Good luck!
The worst, most terrible, awful part about parenting and homeschooling, is that God will want to transform your attitude, heart and motives and that STINKS!
I mean, think about it – you have always wanted to boss someone around, and now you have your little people to line up army style and pull rank on. YOU know what’s going on and YOU call the shots. You’ve been alive longer than they have, and so the world is in perfect order, thank you very much!
Then God steps in and messes everything up for you.
Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!
At least that’s what happened to me every SINGLE DAY. Yeah, it stinks. For example, consider entitlement.
One day, I was looking down my nose in condemnation at my five-year-old because – WOW!- she wasn’t thankful!1
“How did she end up as such an unthankful little human?” I wondered with fear and trepidation. Would she be an unthankful little brat her entire life? THIS has got to be fixed!
I lectured her for half an hour on the benefits and joy of noticing the little things.
She looked at me blankly and continued to blame me for not buying her a third ice cream cone, stamping her little feet and yelling insults at me.
Yikes!
“What do I do now?” I wondered, finally looking up at God. “Can2 you please help me?”
And He did whisper to my heart that day as a gentle wind passed us.
And what He said was THE most annoying, infuriating and upsetting thing He could have mentioned to me right at that exact moment.
He seemed to whisper to my heart:
And how is your level of thankfulness, child?
His words were not harsh or condemning, but gentle, patient and full of the same kind of love I had for my daughter – I WANT her to find joy, and this is the path to it!
So it is for you, he seemed to remind me, turning the parent-child relationship on its head again.
How had I become the child again?
I wanted to be the parent, carefully explaining truths to my little mirrors of me.
And THAT was precisely the problem.
She WAS a mini-mirror of me on this issue.
Time for me to change.
Jesus held out his hand to me, and asked me to walk with him on this path towards a having a bit less gunk in my heart.
Would I follow?
Will you? He holds out his hand to you, too. Will you follow?
Yeah. I know. It STINKS to follow God sometimes because instead of changing THEM, He ends up changing US! I HATE THAT!
You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.
The song below is too humble for my taste. However, it contains some excellent thoughts about gratitude that are worth considering. As the song below plays, consider asking God how He may be a Shepherd to you, increasing joy through gratitude.
God, help us to figure out the (one or two places) where your plans for us are better than our ideas for how to run our lives, we pray.
Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!
Photo Credit – Someone ELSE (NOT me!) Being Annoyed At God by Icons8 Team on Unsplash
1 It is worth noting that whenever my children demonstrate excellence in virtue, they naturally reflect the excellent teaching, values, and confidence that I instill as a homeschooling parent. But whenever they do something naughty (WHAT?!), of course, that is because they didn’t sleep well or their stomachs were upset, as explained perfectly clearly HERE. (Yes. That article is about my dog, but the SAME THING is true about my kids, OF COURSE!)
2 Notice the verb “Can” which of course makes Jesus laugh and slap his knee, wiping the tears a tear from his eye because he is laughing so hard. The answer “Yes. He CAN help!” A valuable truth to remember, one I often seem to forget. Jesus IS helpful!
Restoring Life 