Peace in ParentingSample

If you are like me and struggle with knowing what to do during the ups and downs of parenting, then I hope this devotion speaks to your heart as you journey with The Holy Spirit through the hardest season of life—raising tiny and big humans! Whether you are in the season of having tiny humans with tiny problems or big humans with big problems, the Lord wants to be with you in this season because they are HIS! It is okay not to have all of the answers because the Bible is our blueprint. Whether that be after a long week of commuting and then having to immediately put your Uber badge on so you can begin chauffeuring to extracurricular activities or driving your kid and friends to a long day of whatever it is they want to do instead of going to coffee or brunch with friends, going to the gym like you originally planned, or just sitting in front of your television so you can binge on true crime…. Sometimes, you just do not want to parent, don’t know how to parent in a specific circumstance, or need The Holy Spirit to guide you in hard moments, and that is okay and makes you simply normal. I was sitting at my son's baseball game this past weekend and noticed the mom next to us just TIRED. Okay, let me be clear; she did not look tired because she had a full face of makeup, lips freshly injected, tights on with her matching t-shirt, fresh sneakers on, and in her baseball mom chair… she was fly, y'all. Still, how she spoke to her kids physically spoke about how tired she was. Her daughter came up and she told her to go away and leave her alone for a moment, the baby started crying and she gave it to her husband, her other daughter came up crying and she scolded her immediately. To not pass judgment and deem her self-serving, I just placed myself in her shoes for a second. After a long week of being with kids, she may have just wanted to get cute, sit and watch baseball, and feel good, but it was interrupted. Sometimes, children can instantly interrupt the natural desires of self. Would you have thought? What do you do when you feel this way? Well, I am not the one to judge anyone’s response because I, too, get like this, but how should we respond when we feel this way? Should we lash out in anger? Since it is our job to be like Christ, perhaps we should look at how God responds when we bother him with our needs, desires, emotions, or sins.