Mother's Day 2007
Mother's Day is always a bitter sweet day for me. I find thanking a mother or mother-in-law or step mother much easier than accepting thanks myself. I think back to my mothering and know I made a million mistakes. I yelled when I should have hugged, I spanked when I should have kissed, I accused when I should have listened. I did it all and if you're a mom, you probably did, too. We are all human and can be grateful that it is the nature of humans to remember the good and forget the bad. My kids have forgotten when I wasn't the mom I should have been or else they choose to not talk about it. I feel so blessed to have children who have grown into mature and sincere adults. Many of them have families of their own now and run into the same snags that challenge parents of all generations. I watch my kids deal with their kids and smile. Things don't change much. True, spanking has had a bad rap for awhile, but for the most part, parent-child relationships are about the same. My precious and precocious little grandson, age six, got taken out of church yesterday for misbehavior and his daddy spanked him. That is a rarity. That little boy is the apple of his daddy's eye but when Daddy has had enough, Daddy has had enough. There were some chuckles about that experience around the table yesterday and that sparked a few stories from our children as they remembered the same thing happening to them. There is a fine line in discipline, isn't there? If judged by today's cultural standard, I was hard lined. If I had to do it all over again, I would probably change some things. The point is we only get once to parent a child. When they are grown, it is all over and we don't get another opportunity. I remember while actively parenting praying that God would bless what I was doing right and negate that which I was doing wrong. When I look at our children and the lives they live, I am thankful that God has blessed that prayer. My children aren't what they are because of me but because of God's grace in their lives. Yes, God used me in that process but my children were first of all God's children and He takes His parenting seriously. We often think God is using excess discipline, too, don't we? On the other hand, we wonder why He is so lenient in other situations? Good thing He is God and not subject to our judgement. He is my judge and I thank Him for His forgiveness for my mothering that didn't meet His standard. Fortunately, He did answer that prayer I prayed so many times. Yesterday was a sweet day of family celebration. What a joy to see happy children, especially when they are the adult kind. God is faithful.