Sadly, yes. And I think this past week that Matt was gone was case in point. :( My children were not behaving as I thought they ought. I felt I was doing what I was supposed to do, and I was severely frustrated by their response. I let my frustration manifest itself in angry attitudes, words, and discipline. I knew I wasn't pleasing God, yet I kept trying to handle it on my own. In this way, my desire to parent well/have "good kids" dragged me away from my God. I let the idol unseat my God.
Because of our current culture and my training (and my own personal natural inclinations and sins), I find I am very much programmed to think that what I do determines how my children turn out. In my brain, I KNOW better than that. But in my life, my behavior very much reflects my unbelief.
2 comments:
Sadly, yes. And I think this past week that Matt was gone was case in point. :( My children were not behaving as I thought they ought. I felt I was doing what I was supposed to do, and I was severely frustrated by their response. I let my frustration manifest itself in angry attitudes, words, and discipline. I knew I wasn't pleasing God, yet I kept trying to handle it on my own. In this way, my desire to parent well/have "good kids" dragged me away from my God. I let the idol unseat my God.
Because of our current culture and my training (and my own personal natural inclinations and sins), I find I am very much programmed to think that what I do determines how my children turn out. In my brain, I KNOW better than that. But in my life, my behavior very much reflects my unbelief.
Yes, my parenting is often marked by fear, severity, exhaustion, and despair. I also idolize good behavior from my children and approval from others.
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