Do you care?

I thought raising little ones was hard. Like the terrible twos...the feisty fours and the sassy sevens...

And I am sure in that season...it was. Because each moment of child rearing has it's own challenges.

But now, I'm knee deep in the teen years and we're facing proms and boys and driving and college prep tests and I am beginning to realize my time is becoming more limited and my influence less loud. And I find myself praying...and asking God for more chances to do this parenting thing right.

I'm not alone. I work with women who are sending kids off to college, I'm friends with moms with kids of all ages and I hear it over and over again and again.... I don't know if I am doing this right. Yep...that's the long and short of it. By the time they hit 18 months...we are already questioning and wondering and doubting.

Or we aren't. Because let's be real....there are some parents that just don't have the same concerns as you. Like the parents who lets their kid eat sugar cereals for breakfast, or lets their kids stay up too late or who doesn't use the booster seat until their kid turns 8. They just don't care, do they???

I'M KIDDING!!! Of course parents, or at least most of us, care. I think that's what makes us fearful that the job we are doing is not good enough. And let's be honest...there are some days it just isn't. There are days when my patience runs thin, my go getter is gone, and I don't want to make one more trip to take someone to Walmart. There are days I'm frustrated and empty and tired.

And that's where I am learning to teach my kids about God's amazing grace. That grace that gives mom a second chance at responding, that grace that reminds us all that sometimes there's more than one way to skin a cat, that grace that hugs instead of reacts, says it's "ok" when I know it really isn't and as they learn to give grace to mom, they are actually learning one of the best attributes I could teach them....and even though these moments are humbling and embarrassing, I am learning too. I'm learning to receive grace. I am learning to ask forgiveness and I am learning to be accountable for my actions. Things I need to be teaching them also.

So these teenage years...although full of learning and discipling and mentoring and parenting...there's a bunch of stuff I haven't figured out yet. Stuff that will require extended grace from my kids to me. Because if we care we take real life situations and grab the teaching points and biblical principles and weave them into our conversations and dinner discussions. Because if we care, we admit when the enemy attacks us, and we share with our kids how we can do better next time. Because if we care, we ask for forgiveness and because if we care, we model forgiveness, grace, discipline and lots of prayer. This is a biblical principle outlined, in the Bible, in the book of Deuteronomy....imagine that...God didn't leave us helpless. Our Good Father God, gave us the basics for binding these truths to our children's hearts. (Deuteronomy 6)

That's my story today....
Gina