"Fathers, don't exasperate your children by coming down hard on them. Take them by the hand and lead them in the way of the Master."
This one is hard for me. It seems my kids get exasperated so easily. I struggle with seeing the boundary between being hard on the kids and teaching and being persistent! My kids are so easily exasperated by the least little thing and I can't stop parenting just because I upset them a little, but I am also to not get to picky that I am parenting every little thing. It is sometimes hard to know which battles to pick.
My application for today is to just have an open heart and awareness of my parenting, not just today, but for a week. I am going to focus on the things that I think are issues big enough to deal with and I am going to make an active choice to go to God first and be sure that HE wants me to fight that battle as well. This has been a really hard few days with my Bethany and I want to do what is right for her but it is SO hard to know what is right! I often find that when I am parenting I START parenting the issue and I get off on the tangent of disrespect because I feel they don't respect me enough to even listen to what I am saying, or what I have asked them to do, etc. I think I allow the original issue to get cloudy sometimes so I am going to focus on that.
Ah God. You know. I know You know. You know how I feel. You know what is running through Bethany's mind. You know what she needs. You know what my OTHER kids need (which isn't Mommy spending all her time on Bethany!). You know how to help me fill my house with love and laughter on a DAILY basis! I am asking that you reveal that to me, in a way that I will understand! As only you can do! I am tired of feeling that I am coming down hard on my kids. Help me to see the line and know when I need to be hard and when I need to let it slide!
Amen
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