Kids can be brutally honest, especially
boys. At least at our house. When we’re young, we don’t always
have the good judgment to think before we speak. Actually many
adults don’t either, but that’s a different story for a different
day.
One busy Sunday morning a couple of
years ago, I was frustrated trying to get everyone ready and out the
door for church. Steve had already left to drive the church bus
before Sunday school, and I was running behind. I remember standing
in the kitchen wiping the milk from Nathan’s face, and I was quite
grumpy. He sighed a heavy sigh and asked, “Why do you always have
to be mad?” Ouch!
Now I wasn’t necessarily mad. I was
irritated by the string of little things that had built up my
frustration level that morning. But to a 6 year old, it all seems
the same. My heart sank. I didn’t want that to be the way Nathan
saw me. It was another eye-opening comment from one of my children.
Sometimes, the pattern of becoming
easily irritated simply becomes a habit, a bad habit. It’s a
pattern that needs to be broken. 1 Corinthians 13: 5 (NLT) says,
“Love is not rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not
irritable…” It isn’t my “right” just because things
are not going my way to get irritated with those around me.
That isn’t showing love.
I don’t want my kids to roll their
eyes, sigh and think, “That’s just the way mom is.” That is
not what love is, so that is not who I want to be. And it isn’t
who I have to be. I can wait quietly before the Lord, for my victory
comes from Him. Psalm 62:1. Through the help of the Holy Spirit and
time spent with Jesus in prayer and in God’s word, we can overcome
any struggle with sin. We can have the victory. “Overwhelming
victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.” Romans 8:37
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| Nathan irritated with me for taking a pic of his bed head! |
