Gasp! I'm Not a Perfect Mother!

For anyone who may be wondering, my daughter and I had an awesome time at camp! It was a long ride, we stayed up way past my bed time, let alone my daughter's, BUT we met some missionaries, fellowshipped with other believers, and got my daughter her first taste of camp that will better enable her to go on her own in the future. I'm happy with that, plus I found out, I'm not a bad shot with a bow and arrow.

(Photo courtesy my friend, Kelly)

Anyway....I was supposed to be writing about something else. Oh, yes....

I think there are some people who believe I "have it all together" and that all is rosy in my world. Life is fairly rosy. God blessed me with an awesome husband, steady as a rock. God gave me four beautiful, healthy children, that for the most part are obedient (***cue my second daughter climbing out of bed as I type these words). I have a very nice home in which to live, a dependable 2006 vehicle that transports all my little people from point A to point B without a hitch, a great church family, blessings etc.

Note that God is the source of all of the above. I can go back further and say that God blessed me with parents who trained me to make the wise decisions that often lead to these kinds of blessings, but even all of that is the work of the Holy Spirit in my parents' hearts. I am often a complete and utter failure. I lose my patience, raise my voice, make an irrational decision to do what I want to do right now rather than what God would have me do, and allow my children to drink sippy cups too long. Yes, that last one was kind of random, but reading someone else's blog about the topic got me thinking about all of this. I was unaware of these five things. I'll be trying to loosen my grip on sippy cups starting tomorrow, and inevitably cleaning a lot of messes as a result.

I could grovel in pity or anger at myself for letting my three and four-year-olds continue to drink out of a sippy cup. I could live in agony and constant guilt for the times I'm not as tender as I ought to be with my children or stomp my foot at my husband. OR, I could spend more time in prayer, taking my first thoughts captive in the morning and turning to God for help and guidance. I can pray for the Holy Spirit's ultimate working in my children, because I can't save them. He alone does the work, though He uses my efforts at training to turn their hearts toward Him. I can then leave my concerns with God after I've asked forgiveness for my failures and move on to walk in fulness of life. Praise God for His mercies!