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After my post on Parental Love and Pride, a reader wrote to me and, though not the main point of her note, expressed a sentiment I think many parents can relate to – and really the flip side of Parental Love and Pride – Parental Guilt!
Oh man, do I relate! There are days when I feel like the most terrible mom ever! Days where the kids are restless; or I’ve not slept well. Days where it seems the chores are endless and we’ve still got homeschool to do, or somewhere to go, or something else that needs attention!
We’ve been reading through the Bible at church, and one of the commentaries I read said something about “character not separate acts” that are (eternally) rewarded or punished…” Basically, what I take from that is that our cumulative life’s work is what God judges (provided all sin has been repented of!).
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:12).
That gives me hope thinking that overall, in this life, did I meet my children’s needs? Overall, did I help them draw closer to God?
If I look at myself every single day, every act of every minute, Satan will trip me up for sure and whap me with that “Boy, are you ever a rotten mom” stick that he so cleverly conceals until just the right moment!
All we can do is what husbands are commanded to do: “dwell with understanding…” (1 Peter 3:7). We know our kids best. We encourage them where they need it, and give them a kick in the pants when needed as well. The end result of which, we may never see in this life…but maybe we will.
We love, hope and pray – because, or in spite of, you know?
On those awful days when you want to resign as Parenting Poophead on Duty, just pray! And when God blesses us to wake the next day, thank Him for a clean slate to try again. We get chance after chance with Him; our kids get the same with us!
Our reader went on to ask about our kids and Scripture memorization; similar to Julia’s query about our children wanting salvation for themselves, not because we force it upon them. Yeah, some of this “Scripture stuff” may not be meaningful to our kids right now…they may not even understand half of it, but they will. Get it in there now (Proverbs 22:6), and they will come to appreciate it. Make sure they understand what they are reading, have them look up any unfamiliar words in a *good* Bible dictionary, then re-read armed with this new info. Make it as engaging as you can, yet help them realize that the point isn’t fun for the sake of fun – that it is to help us do our best for God.
Keep on, Gentle Reader, you can do it!!!
