Parenting is hard

As the mother of three tween (one almost teen) girls, there are days when I'm not sure that I'm going to survive their journey to adulthood. Don't get me wrong, my girls are wonderful, sweet amazing girls who love Jesus and who are growing daily in their walk. BUT......they are kids. They fight, they talk back, they don't clean their rooms, and they leaves messes wherever they go. I think that sometimes I forget that I am a parent. Kids don't come out of the womb perfect. They don't know how to run and jump and skip unless we teach them, and they certainly don't know how to make a batch of cookies just because they've watched you do it a million times. Still, I forget. I need to teach them to be good to each other. I need to shepherd them through social trials and insecure moments. When I say, what were you thinking, and they say, "I don't know!", that's most likely the truth.

Some days I miss their diaper butts, and their innocent baby teeth smiles, their tiny hands and their sweet short prays. But those wonderful times have passed and new wonderful times have come. We laugh A LOT! We talk about grown up things and they are beginning to really understand. They have their own wonderful and even wise thoughts. They stand in awe of the Creator that we have always taught them about, and they love to serve in His name. We play games, we dance, we sing and we pray. It's wonderful to remember that there is so much good.

As a parent, sometimes I find myself operating out of fear. That maybe the choices that they are making mean that I am not doing a good job. But one day, I had a wonderful friend tell me that kids need a place where they are comfortable to mess up and learn from it. We are training them to be a blessing to the world, not perfect people at home. If they are pefect at home, then most likely they are acting out somewhere. This helped me to realize that when people complimented me on my great kids, that was conformation that I'm doing a good job, instead of making me feel lame because I have great kids and yet I still struggle.

So, I'm still learning not to jump into the mud pit with my girls when they fight. I'm learning that there is so much I still need to teach and not expect them to know. I'm learning that hard days help me to rely on Jesus more. And I'm growing more and more certain and thankful that He will fill in the gaps where I have fallen short.

All of this to say, if you are a parent like me, and somedays you wonder if you will ever survive, remember, you're not alone, you will survie, and you are doing a GREAT JOB!!