No matter what, I struggle daily with controlling my temper. I have come to discover the physical, hormonal reasons for it but I know that it’s also a heart issue. I’m trying desperately to fix this, whatever it is. Crying out to God to just reach down and snatch it out of me, but I know it doesn’t work that way. I have to get to the root of it, I have to do the work. And I’m trying.
One thing that’s really helping me is reading Grace-Based Parenting. This book is full of wonderful words about the grace of God and how we can NOT raise strong Christian children without allowing that grace to flow through us to them. But grace is something that a lot of us struggle with. We know all about the grace that leads to salvation but for so many of us it stops there. We don’t realize how much grace God bestows on us every minute of every day. It’s a little overwhelming when you really think about it.
There are so many lines in this book and I’m only 1/2-way through it – I rarely write in books but I know this is one that I will be rereading over and over as my kids grow. The thing that really got me today was this:
listen, not lecture
respond rather than react
engage rather than dismiss
pray rather than judge
I want this tattooed on my heart, maybe even my head! I think I’ll start with printing it out and putting it on my wall. I think this is a great map to showing grace to my kids… if I can just get it to become habit. As they say, ‘old habits die hard’ and man, it’s true.
Pray for me as I strive to change and die to the old habits of my flesh.
