I'm not a person who makes goals. Plans, yes. Goals, no. I suppose I'm okay with making goals as long as there's a plan to get there. I'm all about practicality.
My five year old has decided she has a passion for whining, or at least that's how it seems. She's incredibly dramatic and you would think that her life is being ruined what seems like just about every moment of the day. And it makes me lose my patience. Quickly. Running out of sanity, I decided to make a goal, especially for while we were doing home school. I was not going to yell at my daughter anymore. Now, this didn't mean that there wouldn't be consequences for her actions. It just meant that I was going to learn how to be timely and consistent with consequences instead of just lecturing over and over until I lose my patience and blow up. It went really smoothly for the first day. The second day we had a slight hiccup because we went to Target and I asked her to wait for me to help her out of the van, but instead she swung the door open and it crashed into the car next to us where there was a lady sitting inside. Fun times. But really, it was pretty smooth sailing for a few weeks, until eventually I lost sight of my goal and my action steps and started falling back into old habits of getting frustrated and losing my temper. Then one morning I woke up and decided to read Ephesians 6. It is not even slightly normal for me to wake up and just decide to read a random chapter of the Bible. To reiterate, I am a planner, and I typically read my Bible based on some sort of plan I've found or created. However, this particular morning I just had Ephesians 6 on my mind. I didn't remember what it was even though I love to remind my five year old of verse 1-3 talking about how children need to obey their parents. However, the next verse, Ephesians 6:4 says, "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." Bam. Now I realize I'm not a father, but I assume God doesn't want mothers to provoke their children either. It was exactly the convicting reminder I needed. Funny how God does that, huh? Once again it was a reminder not to provoke my children, but to raise them according to God's Word, disciplining in an appropriate way that will lovingly teach them the truth. It was in fact convicting, but it was also a great reminder of God's grace. I apologized to my daughter for being impatient and harsh and she forgave me. God also has forgiven me and gives me the strength to start over with my goal, trusting that He will continue to grow me as a parent as I remain in His Word.
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Marla HoyMy family says and does silly things and I write it down. Archives
March 2020
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