Sour Faces

     “Could you please take out the kitchen garbage?”

     “Could you please dry the lunch dishes?”

     “Could you please pick up the building blocks?”

     Daily, as moms, we’re required to make requests of our children that will make their faces sour and scrunch in dismay -- does that mean we should stop?  No, but we may need to brace ourselves for the inevitable reactions while we DO OUR JOB.

     I dread the high-pitched wails of complaining as much as any other mother, but I refuse to rob our children of the opportunity to contribute to our home.

     But something even greater occurs in these moments of instruction that may go unnoticed at first, but be appreciated later . . . our children learn to obey our voice.  What seems basic and simple when they’re young becomes the stepping stone for God to build on in their lives.

     How will our children know how to obey the voice of God if they haven’t first learned to obey the voice of a parent?

     We resist and dread the natural reactions that come out of our children’s mouths -- we wonder where we went wrong and fail to realize this as a “normal” part of the journey. 

     Instead, we must see the gift we’re giving our children as precious, even though it’s wrapped in paper that isn’t appealing to them.  Keep pressing on with determination inspired from above.

“Whether you turn to the right or to the left,

your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying,

 ‘This is the way; walk in it.’”
Isaiah 30:21