Sunday, November 3, 2013

You Are SO Blessed

“You are blessed.”  These are the words that I said to my son last night when I called him over to correct him.  He looked at me with a curious smile.

These are not words I would have said in years past when my children were not in agreement or unity over something, and my tone of voice certainly would not have had the kind tones my son was hearing last night.  In years past, there would have been irritation in my voice and a look of irritation along with words filled with shaming.  My main concern in the past would have been mostly about myself and what a bother it was to have to deal with their arguing.  I would have wanted to get this over as quick as possible so I could get back to what I was doing.  My parenting did not embody the idea that "Character training adds time to every duty and every duty ought to stop for character training," as quoted by Marilyn Howshall and that I wrote about in "Character Training Adds Time."    I am so grateful that my children no longer experience the impatient self- centered parenting I just described coming from me.  I am so glad they don’t remember being parented in that way. 

When I saw my son’s curious smile, I asked him if he knows why it is that he is so blessed.  He wasn’t sure, so I told him that the Bible tells us that we are blessed and happy when the Lord corrects and instructs us.  I told him I get the privilege of correcting and instructing him for the Lord.  His curious smile turned into a big grin.  I hugged him and then, knowing I had his heart, I began to ask him what was going on inside of him a little while earlier when he and his sister were having a disagreement.  It was so precious to see his willingness to explain to me what he thought and how he felt when his sister said certain things, at some points tears welling up in his eyes, and then to see his understanding towards her grow as we talked the situation through.  Previous to talking to him, I had already talked things through with his sister, so now they were ready to come together and reconcile, both hearts were pliable and yielded, filled with love for each other. 

It was a blessing to my heart to hear them express their sorrow for how they had treated each other, to hear them express their new understanding of how they had hurt the other and follow that up with asking for forgiveness and a tight squeeze hug and giggles.  Yes, my children are blessed... and so am I… beyond measure. 

With every experience like this I am SO grateful for the love of my Lord, who has helped me to let go of so much and who continues to teach me to love, to live out the overcoming life.  Along with that gratitude comes a gratitude for the ministry of Lifestyle of Learning™ that the Lord brought into my life to help our family learn so much about how to "love like Christ loves."  I am so grateful our family is being rescued by the Lord.


Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man whom You discipline and instruct, O Lord, and teach out of Your law
Psalms 94:12


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