Hi, my name is Jaclyn. And it’s time to fess up.
So here goes– the Twitter version:
I DO WHAT I TELL MY KIDS NOT TO DO. ALL THE TIME. LIKE EVERY SINGLE DAY. #notwinning #offFleek #momprobs
“No yelling in the house” — I scream at them as they shout upstairs.
“No sandwich – no dessert,” I mumble, scarfing down that cookie from yesterday’s Chick-fil-A instead of lunch.
“Absolutely no fighting.” Yet, I snap back each time I don’t get my way.
And the drum beat goes on — pick up your mess (and my clothes litter the floor); drink your milk (while I need a goal chart to stay hydrated myself); be still (you get the picture).
Can it be? Is this mommy thing really all that hard that I can’t even get my act together enough to practice what I’m preaching??
YESSSSS, girl. Yes, it is.
“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” Romans 7:15
I mean, some days, I’m just swimming along in easy waters and basking in the sun, and then, there are others, I’m gasping for air at every turn just trying to make any progress at all. All the while, I’m calling out these corrections to my children — behavior that I cannot even master myself.
And that’s it.
I’m Mommy, not master.
I am flawed — just like they are.
Yes, older — hopefully, wiser. Yet, incredibly, absolutely, undeniably flawed.
Thank God that doesn’t matter. Thank God He loves me anyway. Just like I love them. Even more.
Even with every rule I’ve ever broken — big or itty bitty, He loves. Because there’s Jesus — that’s how I know He is the God who loves. He came down and told us so.
So I will press onward. And I will fess up. And I will tell my babies I’m more like them than they know.
I will receive grace, and I will give it, and I will ask for it again and over again.
And I will keep cheering them on to be better and expecting the same from myself. And we’ll navigate the waters ahead together. And that’s not just with each other I’m talking about. Because God IS with us.
Thank you, God, always for such grace in that.
Love,
Mommy
Friends, be encouraged that even though no one on Earth is perfect — we were perfectly chosen by God to parent our kids. Many of the most significant lessons we teach (as we recall learning ourselves) are not easy ones. Some learning has been rooted in pain or poor choices — yet the wisdom gained can boldly boast in the saving grace and power of Jesus. We must always remember we are His first. He came to rescue US — literally from US — and a world we might think we could better control without Him. There is freedom and there is life in acknowledging our need for Him today. He is near — always. Love you all.
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