Accountability...even in elementary school!

Saw a great thing this morning.  A mom carrying her son, who looked upset, to the school bus, gently placed him in one of the seats, blew him a kiss, and then exited the bus.  Now to the regular person, that isn't very interesting.  However, since we all know that I'm not normal, let's look at what really happened.

That mom allowed her son to realize that we don't always get what we want and there are things in life that we simply must do that we won't feel like doing.

You must go to school. 
You must take care of business. 
You must do the right thing. 
Not even open for discussion.

 I love it.


Sometimes its very easy to "take it easy" on our kids and unfortunately, miss an awesome teaching opportunity.  Remember, reassure your child when they face something that they simply don't want to do, let them know that you are with them every step of the way, but don't let them off of the hook.  Remember what Lamentations 3:27 says, "It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young."  Teach them to endure things now by supporting them all the way, and you will be well on your way to raising some pretty good kids.

Its hard being a parent

I'm not going to tell who but this past Saturday, I walked around the side of my house after a hard day of landscaping and cleaning the yard up and what did I see?  One of my 11 year olds texting...to a boy.

Um...

No.  I don't think so.

Have you been there?  At that moment, my "little girl" ceased being a little girl and became...a pre-teen.

I shutter to even think about it.

I knew it was coming.  I just was in denial.  The thing that is most troubling for me is to think that with all of the years that we had up to this point, did I do everything I could to teach them right from wrong?  Was it enough?

In Christ, I don't think we have to ask that.  Deuteronomy 6 sets a high precedent for parents.  One that I believe even the best intentioned, stay at home parents during the Old Testament days even had problems with.  I like to use it to drive me, but I need a jumping off point.  I need something for the "b" team.  I found that in Proverbs 22:6 - "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."

I like that.  You don't have to be perfect as a parent.  You just have to Love God.  Your kids will see that and that will be the training that they need.  What's funny is that even Deuteronomy 6 isn't all that hard when your heart is truly bent toward God.  Those things come naturally.

Later on in the day, after many m&m's and my blood pressure came down, I sat down with her.  She began to cry and said that she realized her mistake.  Now don't get me wrong, its not easy to "play" me.  I am in-tune to my kids as far as when they are turning on the tears to get me to let them off the hook.  However, I saw a genuine sense of remorse because when the punishment was issued (no cell phone privileges at our house) she was good with that.  She didn't like it, but she was good with it. 

Kids are like boomerangs, they may occasionally smack you up side the head unexpectedly, but they usually come back to where they started from.  Thanks God for being right.

Where does disappointment come from?

I just got done reading Jon Acuff's blog "Stuff Christians Like."  His post today was awesome.  It got me thinking about disappointment and why we immediately want to turn to God and ask Him, "Why?"

"Why did she have to leave?"

"Why did I betray him like that?"

"Why did you put me through this?"

Suddenly, it hit.  Maybe instead of "Why," maybe we should be humbly asking "How."

"How could you stay by my side?  On the side of a sinner...an adulterer...a murderer...a thief...a liar...a gossip...a porn addict...an alcoholic...a drug abuser...a child abuser...?"

You see, I think disappointment comes from our inate need to place near perfect expectations on imperfect beings.  We simply cannot deliver.  No matter how hard we try and struggle, we will let someone down in our lives.  However, if during those tough times that we get disappointed, we take comfort in the fact that not only does God not disappoint, but that He is there!  Think about it.  Would you want to hang out with a person who cries everytime something doesn't go their way?  Or they complain when their ideal form of justice isn't carried out?  Yeah, that's me.

We try to fight it, but it simply is in our nature.  God knows this and yet, he still picks us.  He still backs us.  And He always will.  Talk about consistency.  Thanks God for never disappointing.