Things That Make Hard Days Worth It

Posted by Coral on February 18, 2010

Yesterday was a VERY hard day! All of my children woke up on the wrong side of the bed. The fits, the attitudes, were many. They kept coming at me all day long! I thought, who abducted my children and replaced them with these monsters?

All day I remained calm and dealt with each new instance, with resolve to not let them get the best of me. I tried to train their hearts and minds. As evening came they had worn me down . I put the girls in bed and told them that I was in no mood to pray with them that night. That daddy would be in to pray, but I was not calm enough to be a part of it. Now, I don’t think I have ever not prayed with them. However, I knew that I wasn’t in the right frame of mind.

After they were down, I cried, I prayed. I felt defeated. Fast forward to this morning. Jeff got the girls up like he always does. About 5 min. after they woke up, they came into the school room where I was sitting drinking my coffee. They were holding a valentine they had made at the library craft time. They hadn’t decided who they were going to give it to yet.  Well, they decided to give it to me . Then they asked me to come see something in their room. When I got there, I was surprised to find their room all clean. They said, “Mommy, we cleaned up our room, because we are sorry about how we acted yesterday.” I started crying again, but now with tears of joy!

As mothers we have those hard day, where neither us nor our children are at our best (far from it). This morning reminded me that, my goal is not to have perfectly behaved children. My goal is to raise people that learn form their mistakes, and have repentant hearts. Also their desire to please me made my heart soar. I try to build relationship with my dear little ones. I want them to obey me out of love, not fear (as much as possible). Them telling me that they will try harder today, the hugs, the kisses, were such an encouragement! Pray for your child’s heart today, not just their behaviors.