Day 11/ 31
They say the days are long but the years are short– and boy, do I agree– most of the time.
But every now and then the crazy-go-nuts 20 minutes before their bedtime happens in a flash and before we know it the white door with the pink sign closes on another day of parenting littles. We breathe in the total silence & an evening to recharge and sometimes my own silent wondering comes.
“Did we do it well today?”
“Did they see grace and mercy at all?”
“Do they know how much they are loved?”
Sometimes I think of those little heads on flowered pillowcases upstairs and wonder if they are half way to land with pink clouds– or stuck somewhere remembering the harder parts of the day. Wondering if in the last 12 hours since they popped out of bed– they got anything worth getting.
Often, in the heat of the “get it done” of the day– we are focused on the next thing and sometimes autopilot parenting is tempting.
But rather than worry that we really aren’t teaching them anything at all– take a moment to look at the big picture.
Mercy, especially given in difficult moments, is a tutorial on why we need it so badly.
Grace, when we ask our own kids for it– teaches them we too are absolutely human.
Love is a really good object lesson.
And just listening to them can be a full seminar of their worth and value.
So the next time you start to question if you are making a difference at all— and ESPECIALLY on the days that all of the learning happens on the go— be as gracious with yourself as you want to be with them.
And know that tomorrow is another day. Those little people forgive as wide as their chocolate-smeared smiles– and that’s beautiful.
Furthermore, remember that His mercies are new every morning. Not keeping a list of our wrongs, mis -steps, mistakes, and not quite good-enoughs, but gently pushing us on.
As He teaches us, our lives will continue to teach them. One love lesson at a time.
We must first live it in front of them, then we can lead them in it.
The best teachers are perpetual students anyway. And we absolutely need to keep learning.
[…] 11. Teaching En Route […]