The Times I Mess Up the Most (sin against them the most, to put it bluntly)

     It’s always when I’m in a hurry.  Hurry to get them up, fed, teeth brushed, clothes on, bathroom visited, out the door . . . out the door with the diaper bag, lunch box, her back pack, my back pack, ballet clothes . . AGGGHHH!  Did I mention that I get up really early, and yes, I know all that about putting your stuff by the door the night before, yet something always seems to come up right at the last minute with little ones! 

Hurry to get to church, to school, to bed, through the store, through the next thing so that we can get to the thing after that that has to be done before that other thing can be done!  My hurry and my flesh collide and spill my sin all over my children.  It’s an ugly picture of loud huffs, little grace, and later…regrets.

     I don’t remember who said it (maybe it was a seminary professor or maybe it was in a book), but “they” said, “Hurrying is the way of the amateur.”  Then, I am definitely in the little league.

     So here’s how I’m working on this one:

1. Yes, by preparing what can be prepared (but that is very little sometimes)
2. Yes, by eliminating superfluous activity for which I don’t have time in this season of my life

Those are the easy two.  Here are the more subtle, challenging ones:

3. By accepting that I’m going to have to disappoint others sometimes (whether it be my children because they have to give up a toy or certain pair of shoes they are demanding or whether it be the people/person to whom I’m in a hurry to reach)
4. by making it my goal to please God in the midst of the tasks and hurry
5. by remembering that my attitude is more important to God than my accomplishments, punctuality, or appearance (of myself, my children, my house, my messy car!)  “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength” Prov. 17:22 NLT).

     God wants my children to see Himself through me.  I forget this, but thankfully God and I meet on the front porch again in the morning, start over, and He fills me afresh and graciously gives me another chance to do it differently.

Where does my help come from?  
My help comes from the Lord,  
the Maker of heaven and earth.

. . . He will watch over your life;
 the Lord will watch over your coming and going
 both now and forevermore.

(Psalm 121:1b-2, 7b-8 NIV)