What Parenting Teaches Me

Yikes!  I knew I had a list of WPTM posts waiting for me to actually write out, but I didn't realize a YEAR had gone by since my last.  Now I just feel so behind, I have lost all oomph to try to catch up.  Instead, I'll just list the things I've learned while parenting, aka - the things I've learned about myself via my children, since the last WPTM entry.  It'll be kinda like a WPTM Cliff's Notes. :)

WPTM #30:  Perspective.   When I told Noah he had to finish his milk early one morning before playing Wii, he  was not keen on the idea and moaned, "Dis is a bad day."  Poor baby.  A cup of milk had ruined his day?! So silly ... and shortsighted.  Then it came to mind how many piddly things I allow to darken my mood or ruin my day, or worse, how many blessings I bare as burdens.  Perspective.

WPTM #31:  Imperfect.  I have a hard time trusting some people with the care of my children.  I don't like their value judgements, their manner, their inattention, etc.  I don't want to give them even minutes of influence over my babies.  It burns to consider the poor choices that might affect my children that I know I could be making better.  And then I guffawed to consider, How in the world the Lord stands to entrust precious innocent babies to the care of fallen sinners; sinners he can already foresee the ways their babies will be let down, abused, neglected, whether on a criminal level or just lazy parenting level.  Oh, what a merciful God. Having to accept someone else's imperfect care for my child makes me come face to face with my own imperfections before my God.  It humbles me and then it sobers me that he still trusts his children (Noah and Anna so far) to me.

WPTM #32:  Home.  Anna was upset in the car because she broke some toy and because I was driving, I couldn't attend to it right away.  "Don't worry, baby. I'll fix it when we get home."  Right away she was at peace again.  That reminded me of all the broken and painful things in our lives here on earth that cause us to cry out - injustices, ailments, fears, sin, panic.  I could almost hear the Lord whispering to me to believe also what I had just assured my daughter - that my loving Father will make them all right when we get home.

WPTM #33:  Folly.  It's so frustrating to teach my children the right thing to do, to know what is in their best interest, to want to protect their innocence and to watch them still choose the wrong thing, choose what is going to cause them pain in the end, be drawn to things that will steal their innocence. It hurts my heart for them.  This made me think of the hurt God must feel watching us choose any named sin and then suffer for it.  Makes me want to choose more wisely and trust his ways instead of the ways that SEEM right to me in the heat of the moment on any given situation.  Oh, the folly of my own ways.

WPTM #34:  Cut Off.  Noah is all boy in the sense that he is not forthcoming with details when retelling events.  It's so frustrating when I just want to share in how his day went and talk with him about stuff, especially after a full day of school for him.  I don't like how separating it feels.  And that reminded me that that must be what it's like when I hurry through my day and make it to the end and go to sleep ... and not have slowed down at all to invite my Lord into the day, let alone draw near to him at the end of it. 

WPTM #35:  His Timing.  When I told Anna it would be 5 more minutes, she answered, "OK, 12345!" She was let down when I let her know that her 5 seconds were not the same as 5 minutes.  As I thought about her preference for 5 seconds over 5 minutes,  I compared it to how a day is like a thousand to God and a thousand are like a day.  I thought about how hard it can be to wait on God's timing when we are so sure we are ready for things on our time scale.

WPTM #36:  Obedience and Blessing.  It's a struggle to make kids understand that their obedience is not meant to be a shackle for them, but an avenue for protection and blessing - for GOOD things for them and not bad.  That power struggle between their will and a parent's will always seems to get in the way.  I caught myself pleading with Noah one day, "I love you, I want good things for you, Just obey, baby!"  It reminded me of the verse in Jeremiah 29:11 telling of God's good plans for us.  Oh, how our disobedience can stand between us and those good things.

WPTM #37:  Gratitude.  We swept the kids off to Atlanta a couple months ago and did all manner of fun and/or expensive novel things.  And still my hooligans acted like ungrateful brats.  As I shook my head that they could be so unappreciative, I cut them some slack in my heart because I realized how much I must surely identify with their antics.  I am sure the Lord sees much the same scenario from his venue from all of us so-called adults.  I won't even pretend that I am not guilty of being an ungrateful brat.  Shame on me.

WPTM #38:  Repetition.  Training and disciplining a child is so full of repetition.  It requires patience to keep up with that and maintain my cool in the face of that monotony and same ole, same old.  And that reminds me of the Lord who dealt with the repetitive sins of the Israelites in the desert as he most certainly does with all of his children to this day. So thankful that my Lord is slow to anger.

WPTM #39:  Taking Him at His Word.  My Anna has a habit of repeating to herself in a whisper the things I say.  Sometimes she's just trying out the sounds, other times she's thinking more about it. Whatever her reason, it is clear she is taking my words in, internalizing them, pondering them.   Last I remember this, I said to her, "You are such a creative girl!" and sure enough she muttered under her breath, "Creative girl!"  I grinned at her believing and taking in those words about her self just because her momma said it was so.  And I thought, Lord, let it be so with me.  Let me claim my value and worth based one who you say I am.  Let me ponder your words toward me and not the words the world would say toward me.  Let me take You at your Word.

WPTM #40:  Judge Not.  Anna loves to play with a tape measure.  She'll pull that tape out and then say, "Mommy, my piggie weighs 7!"  I try to explain to her how the measurement should be said, "My piggie is 7 inches long," but she doesn't get it.  She continues "weighing" things to this day with a measuring tape.  And this reminded me of how we also tend to weigh people with the wrong measurements and with incomplete scales and inaccurate perspectives.  I remind myself to not judge people because I am not equipped to take true measurement of anyone.  What a relief to leave that all to a just God!  What a blessing that he is just.