Learning along the way

Normally, I don't mind Mondays all that much.  The weekend is FINALLY over (if you're a Pastor's family, you understand this), I don't have to go anywhere & we can ease our way back into our normal routines.


Not so much today.


Today started off okay, breakfast was taken care of, morning routines were started (bed, teeth, dressed, rooms, chores) and the whining was minimal.  I had a bit of a headache, but not too bad ~ a lot to catch up on from the weekend, yet not overwhelmingly so.


Then the arguing started:


"He threw a toy at me!"
"She won't give me my game back!"
"He hurt me!"


Ugh.

Finally, Elijah comes downstairs to - so I assume - add to the list of tattling and whining.


"Selah threw a toy at me and hit the light and it broke into a lot of pieces."


Hoping & praying I asked him if the TOY broke into a lot of pieces.  Nope.  It was the light.




I ran upstairs, knowing the baby was playing up there too.  Sure enough, TWO fluorescent bulbs had been busted in the boys' room.  And sure enough, the baby had walked through the mess and cut his precious lil' baby foot.....ouch!




Amazingly though, I did not scream.  I did not yell.  I sent everyone out of the room and made sure the baby was okay (he's fine although we're keeping an eye out for any signs he might have a sliver of glass still in his foot - it looks good actually, but we'll keep checking it).  I began the clean-up process and directed the children with other chores.  The upstairs was soon spic-n-span!!  Later, everyone headed to their rooms which gave me a chance to catch up with the rest of the house (dishes, laundry, etc.).

See, I had *just* read a devotional for homeschooling momma's.  It talked about how we can get easily frustrated with our children when the do not display good character qualities on a consistent basis.  Why, oh why, do my children *still* argue with one another?  Why haven't they learned to be kind to their siblings?  Why can't they play nicely and NOT throw their toys at one another?

Thank the Lord, He has more patience than you or I.  He deals with us in such a loving, kind, patient manner - even as He must teach us things over & over & over again.

So this morning, as I looked at the ga-gillion tiny pieces of glass, I thought of the Lord.  How does He react when I fail?  How does He treat me when still haven't learned the lesson He knows I need to grasp?  I tried to remember what a blessing these babies are, and how blessed I am to have the opportunity to teach & train them ~ instead of reacting in anger & frustration at their poor choices.  This is my job, my responsibility, my gift from the Lord....and here was another chance to show them God's love through my actions & words!

Now I'm off to tackle more housekeeping chores, wrangle the older children inside for a bit of homeschooling....all the while trying to remember my children are still a work in progress & are not through learning.  


And neither am I.




God Bless You & Yours today~