God and Us Mere Humans

Happy Monday! Well it is still Sunday but I figure my mom will be reading this tomorrow. So good morning mom! How is that California sunshine?

I have a couple of God Things that I want to share. The first is about the book Shepherding a Child's Heart. Remember I shared that this book was laying on the floor one day and I thought it was strange, but not really. I believed that God wanted me to read it after shelving it for nine years! There was one thing I failed to mention about the book. The morning I picked it up off the floor I opened the book to a random page. In bold lettering there were two headings that read Obedience Defined and Call for Consistency. I didn't mention this because I didn't really think it had any significance, until a couple of days ago.

I have been reading this book for the past few days and I have liked Tripp's perspective on parenting (Mostly. I can't say I agree with all of it, because I'm not even halfway through the book). Anyways, I was intrigued by the section I randomly opened. I thought I'd read some from that particular chapter. Tripp talks about how God has placed us as the authority over our children and when they dishonor us or disobey us, they are also dishonoring and disobeying God as well. Here is a excerpt from his book.

One Big Lesson
The most important lesson for the child to learn in this period is that HE IS AN INDIVIDUAL UNDER AUTHORITY. He has been made by God and has a responsibility to obey God in all things. The key passage of Scripture for this period is:

Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother," which is the first commandment with a promise: "that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.' (Ephesians 6:1-3)

He goes on to say that when children honor and obey, things go well. When they dishonor and disobey they will find difficulty and hardship. Makes sense to me.

So what am I getting at? The other day Alexa got herself in a bit of a pickle. It could have escalated into something not so wonderful. Before I continue, it was not horribly bad (it was catty girl stuff). But it was a topic of discussion that her and I had had so many times. We, as parents, do our best to prevent problems in our children's world. I was extremely upset and expressed my disappointment. She in turn gave me her apologies but not without MAJOR attitude. Needless to say, I "went off" on her and made sure that she remembered who she was talking to. Not my best moment, but it happened. Our day turned out to be very tense and stressful. But I remembered what this book had said about honor and obedience which I later explained to her. While I was explaining the importance of obeying and all the benefits that come with it, another nugget of advice popped into my head. I could have handled the sassy attitude better than I did. I did not hit her, just in case you were wondering. I did yell very loudly and said some hurtful things. But I reasoned that if she had not given me the attitude and just listened to my correction, everything would have been fine. It was her sassiness that made me angry. Then this section popped into my mind:

Check your own spirit. Have you handled him/her roughly? Have you been out of control? Have you sinned against her in the way you have disciplined? If so, you must confess your sin and seek forgiveness and restoration.

If, in weakness and frailty of your flesh, you sin against your children, you must seek their forgiveness. Seeking forgiveness is not saying, "I am sorry that I got mad at you and yelled, but when you do that..." Seeking forgiveness is saying, "I am sorry. I sinned against you. I was mad. I threw a temper fit. There is no justification for behavior like that. Please forgive me. When you give reasons for your sin, you are not asking forgiveness, you are simply justifying your sin.

So I leave you with this thought to ponder. Was it by coincidence that I found this book on the floor after nine years? Or could it be that God obviously knew this day was coming and Alexa and I both needed some loving discipline? He doesn't have to be so involved with us mere humans...but He is. And I'm thankful for that.


I will have to share the other God Thing tomorrow.