Perspectives in Parenting...Clean Your Room!

I am what some would call a "neat freak."  I stand by the mantra that everything should have a place and everything should be in its place.  

Probably out of nothing more than His sense of humor, God has blessed me with a very free spirited daughter.  In her free-spiritedness, she did not get my neat freak gene.  And because of this, there are many days/nights when we don't quite see eye to eye.

Almost every day begins and ends with the same speech..."how is your room so messy?  Didn't I ask you to clean it?  How can this be cleaned if there's still stuff all over the floor?  Wouldn't it be easier just to put things away?"  I'm sure you've all been there.

Well as I walked away tonight thinking about how I can approach this in a different way, God's gentle prodding said, "Tammy...don't you get it?  I give you that speech each day too.  You know that I've told you that your body is My temple, yet you often get it all messy.  Whether it's unkind words, thoughts that aren't pleasing, gossiping, or even filling it with junk food; all of it makes a mess day after day.  Maybe it's time you clean your room and keep it clean..."

Ugghhh!  He's right.  So in the parenting struggle, I've been convicted about how I am as child of God.  While I'll no doubt continue to give Katelyn speeches about cleaning her room, I'm going to do my best to keep my "room" clean too.  

1 Corintians 6:19

Putting parenting in perspective

As parents we all go through those times where we are thinking..."Yes, I've got this!"  Then there are the days when we wonder if we are doing anything right...you know, the days when we only hope that our kids are better behaved at school than they are in a particular moment, or the days when we wish we invested in soundproof walls do the neighbors wouldn't hear us.  In the midst of some of those times lately, I've found myself praying that God will use those times to teach me and help me make the best of those struggles.

While I thought in my own feeble mind that those prayers would somehow turn me into Supermom and life would be smooth sailing, I'm Instead finding these moments to be more of a reflection on who I am or how I am as a child of God...boy, I still have a lot of "growing up" to do!  

So I am going to start sharing the lessons God is teaching me as I pray each day to learn from the parenting struggles.  And I'm also continuing to give myself grace, both as a parent and as a child, because I'm confident in knowing that He who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it.  And finally, I'm celebrating my role as a mom (both on the good days and on the tough days) because it truly is a blessing.