Statement of Purpose

Tonight may not be the best night to start this blog. I am tired. Fuzzy brained. Sleepy as soon as I sit down. But how is that different from any other night? I live in a state of perpetual tiredness. Never enough sleep. Never enough rest.

I have a life that seems mundane at times. Busy- yet mundane in the repetitious schedule of small children. Sleep, wake, snack, play. It's easy to burn out when you find yourself saying the same thing over and over and over again. No hitting. Gentle touches. Let's use our good manners. Stay out of the toilet. Stay out of the toilet. STAY OUT OF THE TOILET! But...

Parenting is not about controlling your children behavior; it's about controlling your own. Parents are in charge of their children, but they can never totally be "in control". Parents can work to change behaviors, but the holy spirit is the only one who can ever change hearts.

Anything in creation can tell us something about God, when you take the time to examine it. Relationships are no exception. Christians are familiar with the comparison of Christ and The Church to a husband/wife relationship. There is a parallel there that can reveal great truths about Christ and his relationship to us. It also reveals how we, as husband and wives, should relate to each other. I've heard this subject spoken on quite a few times. But. I have never really heard much about one of the most obvious relational parallels in creation. If God is our Father, and we are His Children- what does that tell us about how we should relate to our own children? What does that tell us about how our children relate to us? What does that tell us about how our children relate to each other, and how we relate to our "brothers" and "sisters" in Christ?

The first I really thought about this was during a time when there were Christian spats going on all around me. One afternoon my own children were antagonizing each other, driving me up the wall, when I realized, "This is probably how God feels when he sees his children fussing within the church." The battles that seem so important to us to fight- who's in charge of VBS, what time does Sunday School start, etc. probably seem to God as if we were arguing over who gets the best looking, biggest slice of cheese. Maybe he feels the way I feel when my children complain that their cracker is "broken", despite the fact they still have all the pieces there to eat. Or when they melt down because I peeled their banana.

Ever since this realization, I have tried to see every experience of every day with my children as a lesson about ourselves as children of God. My intention is to use this blog to record situations that occur in the parent/child relationship and to examine the deeper meaning of, "What does this tell me about God?" I used to fret about how my children would keep me away from my quiet times with God. Now, they help inspire my quiet (or not so quiet) times with Him. In fact, I might say they help keep God's word as frontlets to my eyes and they me to remind me to pray without ceasing.