I read a chapter out of the Bible book of Proverbs every day. There are 31 chapters in all, so one a day is like taking a vitamin. It supplements my mind and spirit with age old wisdom. I figured out long ago that basic principles of life can be absorbed, meditated on easily,recalled in times of need if I packed each day with tools for the job of training & teaching myself via Gods Word.
After all these many years of study I still find the verses about child rearing to be hard to swallow. So many of them talk about how wonderful good kids are to the Dads reputation, but how shameful it is when Moms miss the mark! What about all the great stuff we Moms do every minute of every day? What's up with that God?
Well, even my husband has made simple comments to me to that effect. " I always knew that kid would make me proud". Or"she must have gotten that mouth from you!" I don't want to be made soley responsible for the negatives that lie in the DNA of my children. But if I look deeper into this reoccurring pattern in scripture I find one word that unlocks the truth of it's intention, SHAME!!!
God is saying to us women that the enemy(Satan, evil, sin, disobedience) brings Shame. That we are vulnerable to receive this accusatory attack when we see our little ones or teens make public displays of their weaknesses. We are then weakened ourselves by the second guessing we do to correct their behavior. We ask all our friends to give us advice based on the common belief that more information from the outside will help straighten us out in what we need to do to have perfect kids!
The problem with this whole concept is that we have already bought into the mindset of the enemy! He said we failed and we put on this heavy coat of guilt! We have really screwed up! And we don't have what it takes to get the job done! Brick by brick Satan builds us into a prison of self doubt. Now we publicly aknowledge our sense of lack by stepping back from the task at hand.
Moms , Pull your heads out of the sand. My bad-No way!! I'm perfectly flawed, worthy of Christs never ending stream of grace. GRACE is the antidote for shame . If I immediately get my head and heart in position to receive Gods grace & let's not forget mercy, I can circumvent the effects of being weighed down and immobilized in the face of this challenging task of child rearing . First I have to put the air mask on myself so I can help the weaker ones in my care. Grace, the fresh air of Gods Holy Spirit, continues to sheild me & my vision of the kids by reminding me that Jesus was the only perfect person on earth. Probably because He never had children!!
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