Rearing children is one of the most amazing, rewarding, and difficult things we'll ever do.
Every day, we make choices when it comes to parenting our children. Often, it comes down to choosing the easy way or the hard way.
When I've finally found five minutes to sit down and rest, it's easy to ignore my child's disobedience, but hard to get up from my comfortable seat and discipline her - for the tenth time today.
It's easy to turn on the television and let my children be entertained by whatever's on; it's hard to actively monitor our media choices and limit them to those that meet our family's standards.
After a long day, it's easy to get up from supper and hurry through the evening to bedtime. Sometimes it's hard to be consistent with pulling out our family devotional book and taking the time to study God's Word together.
It's easy to excuse away my daughter's grumpy attitude, but hard to patiently correct her - especially if I'm feeling grumpy myself.
Perhaps it's easier to just raise my voice to get my children moving instead of taking the time to teach them what I need them to do.
It's easier to clean up their rooms and do all the household chores myself, but harder - in the beginning - to train them how to do it.
It's easy to put their happiness above making the difficult decision that's best for them, but will make them unhappy.
It's easier to let their disrespect slide than to confront them about it.
It's easy to let them go along with the current culture, but sometimes very hard to teach them to stand alone.
In America, it's easy to let them fall into a spirit of entitlement and ingratitude, but hard to show them how to be thankful.
It's easy to get discouraged at the challenges we face as moms and dads....but as we learn to bring our struggles and failures to God, seeking wisdom from His Word to lead our children, we can know that many times, the difficult choices are what is best for our children. By His grace and power, we can have the strength to raise children who will bring glory to Him - even though the process is not always an easy one.
I'm with you on the "finally getting five minutes to sit down and rest" and not wanting to get up to discipline a child.
ReplyDeleteThere are a myriad of choices that we have to make every day, and it's so hard, isn't it, to make the right ones every single time? It's nice to know that I'm not alone. :)
"Perhaps it's easier to just raise my voice to get my children moving instead of taking the time to teach them what I need them to do." Convicted!
ReplyDeleteThis is so true - and sometimes laziness becomes a habit, and then being active as a parent is even more difficult. But it's important to remember that it pays in the long run, especially because we aren't just parenting, but we're also setting an example to our children of what it means to be a parent... It brings to mind that verse that says that we need to Train up our children in the way they should go, and when they are old, they won't depart from it (Prov 22:6) - this applies to what kind of parent they might turn out to be as well, when it is their turn! Nowhere in that verse does it say that the training will be easy!!!
ReplyDeleteEntitlement and ingratitude is a problem in Australia, too. Not just America. :(