Whiny Brats

Since becoming a parent I have had more revelations about God than in my previous 26 years. Could it be that I am more mature spiritually and emotionally and therefore more observant? Maybe. Could it be that now that I am raising children that I am SEEKING more revelations from God? Very possibly.

However, I have another, more likely, theory.

I think it has to do with the fact that I now how someone to look at in the way that He looks at me. Someone who I love more than I can describe; someone who I truly want the best for; someone I never want to see hurt; someone I am teaching; someone I am holding on to; someone I have to let make his own mistakes; someone who I will love regardless of the mistakes he makes; someone I could not stop loving regardless of how much he ever hurt me; someone I would die for without second thought.

It's funny how we try to teach our children life lessons that we have a hard time dealing with ourselves.

The most recent example is an everyday occurrance in the life of parents of a preschooler. He wants to do things with his own ideas and interests in mind. There are times that we are glad to let him explore and learn. There are times that we let him work it out alone because if we constantly get involved he will never learn to do things on his own. Then there are times when we say, "No!" We try to explain to him that we'd don't tell him "no" because we don't want him to have fun. We don't tell him "no" just because we get kicks out of doing it.

We tell him "no" because

• we can see the outcome of that decision and it will hurt him
• we can see the outcome and it could hurt someone else
• we can see the outcome and it is not a wise decision
• we have other plans for him to pursue that will result in his happiness

We tell him "no" because we have a better view from where we are (experience, more developed logic, etc).

And what does he do? He gets mad. He sometimes goes ahead with his plan anyway. And often when he proceeds, he says, "see, I didn't get hurt that time!"

But God's rules are just to make sure that no one gets hurt. And He can see a bigger picture than I can from His perspective. And because He knows what will truly make me happy.

But I still get mad. And sometimes I do it anyway. And sometimes I even say, "see, I didn't get hurt that time!"

So when I was scratching my head the other day over my son's refusal to listen to me and understand that I had his best interests in mind, my "why?!" was answered with an "Oh, yeah."

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If you're here via the Carnival, thanks for stopping by. Sorry I'm in a bit of a writing rut, but I'm working on getting back into it. I got pretty burned out after writing this huge series. Anyway, hope you enjoy your stay.

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