I got in trouble with one child yesterday because I got on to another child, and (shockingly) the one child thought I “yelled” too much. There was no yelling, but there was some stern tones that came out of my angry face. But THEN, after the one child stood up for the other child, I felt bad about it, and I started wondering, did I whisper scream too loudly? Did I offend both children? Am I ever going to figure this parenting thing out? And I spent the ENTIRE morning worrying that my kids were upset with me but at the same time – after thinking through my words and actions – being ok with how I had approached the other child in the first place. I am the parent, dang it, and I do have a tidbit of wisdom under my belt, and I absolutely, positively do NOT want to see our kids go through any of the heartache we went through. So, sometimes I get on to them … when the time comes. To be fair, the husband and I are pretty lax in our parenting approach. We kind of have the “you decide” attitude, but we’ve been fortunate that our kids have made some pretty darn good decisions and are well on their way to being pretty good darn adults. But sometimes, they do push us, as all kids do, to the brink of insanity. And that’s kind of where I was when the one child got upset with me for getting upset with the other child. And when I explained to the one child why I was upset, that child understood my anger a little bit more … and then went back to Snapchatting. Sigh. And all was better in the kingdom for a few. Now, that was a long story to point out what I thought about today’s psalm, but basically, what I’m seeing in it is where I was yesterday with the other child. Done. Just done with it. I was done discussing it. I was done living with it. I was done. And I told that child so in no uncertain terms. Sometimes you gotta do whatcha gotta do, you know? And do you think God is any different?
Sum it up:
Our Guide, Our Redeemer, Our Parent,
PLEASE, LISTEN!
We didn’t mean to offend You.
We didn’t mean to forget You.
We see now what we did wrong.
And we won’t do it again.
WE PROMISE.
Please, keep your promise to us.
Writing prompt: parental love
You might be a parent, and you might just be a kid of a parent, but either way, we’ve all had dealings with parents. Write about a tough lesson you learned either as a parent or from a parent.
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