Welcome to {Monday Mom Musings} link-up! I’m so excited you came to join the fun. Moms supporting moms is what Monday Mom Musings is all about.
As parents, one of our most important jobs is teaching our children everything from nose-picking abstinence (at least in public) to how to pump the swings at the park to how to be a diligent homeworker. If I’m my child’s teacher, I’m gonna need a whole lot of insight from on high. I’ve got no idea how to raise a kid. Before Summer Elizabeth was born, I’d never once held an infant, been a victim of diaper duty, or even had to bring home and care for “live” doll as a high school class learning project. People, I know nada. zilch. zero.
Since birth, our experience with Summer Liz has been smooth & relatively uneventful in the most positive sense of the word. She’s so serene, healthy, and adaptable that we’ve been on parenting cruise control. Until now. The more she learns, the more I realize I need to learn. How do we deal with her angry outbursts that result in biting? How do I initiate weaning? How do my husband and I put together a cooperative discipline system? And most importantly, how do I point her towards Jesus every day?
It’s one thing teaching Bible from a curriculum, making lesson plans, quizzes, and calculating grades. I muddle through with my seventh and eighth graders week after week & we make headway. Organization and rule making is kind of my thing. Living out Biblical principles through lifestyle “osmosis” teaching is a whole ‘nother story. You see, I’m flawed. I’m filthy, covered in selfishness. I love to plan the family’s days for my own comfort, to fit my schedule, to please me, me, me. This isn’t what I want to teach my baby. I want her to prioritize God and others first, so I need to change. She’s watching me and ultimately, He’s watching me.
We pulled out of the church parking lot this morning, headed to meet my brother-in-law for sushi. As we sped down the bumpy, pot hole ridden road, Hubs spotted a family from church sauntering home and asked me asked me if we could invite them to join us for lunch. Instead of agreeing instantly, I opposed the idea citing that we didn’t have enough seatbelts & that baby would need a nap shortly after the meal.
God wasn’t exactly smiling at my selfish concerns, and I felt that familiar tinge of conscience prodding, but my stubborn heart championed. It wasn’t until we were seated at the restaurant that we discussed the idea again & I ceded to selfishness, which ended in hubs ducking back into the car to pick them up.
This is my prayer this week.
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linking with Time-Warp Wife & Jenni Mullinix
I totally agree with you. Parenting through the baby stage was pretty easy (for me), but now that I have a demanding toddler on my hands I’m realizing that I have a lot more learning to do. I love that you invited that family to join you for lunch. It probably made their day (or week!). Little acts of kindness like that can made a world of difference, and too often I feel like we are all living in our own little bubbles.
Parenting does make you become a better person. It is easy to forget we need to become the person we want our babies to be because in the end they learn from everything we do, and not just our shining moments.
Wow! I too had never held an infant in my arms before my first baby! I just had to learn on the fly!!
Awww adorable!
http://eternal-simplicity.blogspot.com
Beautiful, Jelli. Just beautiful and too true. Parenting is an absolute exercise in selflessness–one that I really struggle with often! It’s so hard to always put someone else before yourself, but you are right. This is what I’ve been called to. And snorting over “victim of diaper duty” 😉
I know what you mean … after four kids… really you see a lot and feel even more hard. Onething that is really hard these days for me is how people without kids don’t know that they love their ‘things’ more than the ‘people’ in their lives.