"All I want is one cup of coffee without being interrupted." "I can't believe this mess." "Can't I just have one minute alone?!" (Consider any sentence in your mind that begins "Can't I just..." to be a dangerous one.) Am I frustrated by my house that lacks perfection, exasperated by pleasures denied, irritated by those around me?
I am learning that each time some small disagreeable thing is put before me, and I bear it without complaint, and turn my mind from dwelling upon it, I make good use of the opportunity to make my desires my servants rather than my masters. And, my task in parenting is not to remove all impediments to my children's happiness and comfort.
"If we try to organize perfection, we fail the child. Part of life is to learn to accept the limitations of any given situation. We do our children a lifelong service if we help them to make the best of where they live and who they are." (Susan Macaulay) A wise woman stated in 1891 that a mother should be "pointing out the paths of righteousness rather than those of pleasantness, and taking care herself to walk therein." (Alice Powell) Ah, such clarity.
Will I not let my mind dwell on the way I feel, but instead be joyous in spite of physical infirmity or small irritations? Will I cease to review in my mind the criticism, unkind remark or look that offended? (This is part of throwing off "everything that hinders" since such a review locks me in a darkened room of discontent.)
"Never let us reflect upon small annoyances, and we shall be able to bear great ones sweetly. Never let us think over our small pains, and our great pains will be easily endurable." (Charlotte Mason) ...Lord, open my eyes to the truth that the small annoyances, properly ignored, are useful for developing the character I desire for my children, and myself.
We have to form habits to express what God's grace has done in us...it is the disagreeable things which make us exhibit whether or not we are manifesting His life...When disagreeable things happen, do we manifest the essential sweetness of the Son of God, or the essential irritation of ourselves apart from Him?...Growth in grace stops the moment we get huffed. (Oswald Chambers)
God obviously led me to you this morning. I am the worst at this and you've hit me at a weakness. Perhaps, the worst is that I was just pondering why my littles don't stay tidy and avoid the wrath of Mom! There's a lesson that I've needed for a few years and I just got it...Thanks (half sarcastically ;))!
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