I Had a Rough Morning, but a Good Afternoon

When I decided to name my blog, I thought it was clever to call it The Good, The Bad, and The Quirky.  But, I also wanted to be able to write about times that might be considered "bad."  I like to keep things cheerful and light, but I also want to keep things real, you know? Because as much as I want to be the most perfect mom in the world, I most certainly am not.

Yesterday was certainly evidence of that.

Maggie and Gracie were in the bathtub and were all clean, so they had some time to just play.  The water was pretty sudsy, so I wanted to clip Maggie's hair up so I wouldn't have to rinse it again.  She started to pull it out and I told her she needed to leave it in.

She said, super sassy, "WHY should I?"

Can you believe that such a sweet, cute girl would say such a thing?

Needless to say, that didn't go over very well.  I raised my voice and said suuuuuuper helpful things like, "How dare you speak to me that way.  I am the mom.  How dare you!"

I pulled her out of the bath, wrapped her in a towel, and had her wait in the warm bathroom while I got Gracie dressed.

Let me say that I don't mind explaining why my kids are doing what I asked them to while they are in the process of obeying.  I think it's good!  But, obedience needs to be first time and not negotiated for their own safety (and my own sanity).  I can't risk them running away from me in a busy parking lot because they are expecting me to explain the whys of obeying before they obey.

They also know that when I ask them to do something, a great reply is, "Yes, Mom."

The amount of times I've had to remind them to say, "Yes, Mom," is staggering.

Anyway, Maggie was wrong.

And I was wrong, too.  I was mean, and I was filled with pride.

Every now and then I am just faced with my own brokenness and weakness.  It is so very sobering to me.

So, why do I tell you this?

Because we need Jesus.  I need Jesus.every.single.second.  

And any time you look at me and think that I'm such a great mom or such a wonderful person, I want you to know that what you are seeing isn't me...it's Jesus.

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

2 Corinthians 12:9

This is the beauty of the Gospel...that Jesus forgives me again and again.  He redeems broken moments again and again.

That's what happened with me and Maggie.

We talked about what happened and what she did wrong.  And we talked about what I did wrong, too.  We both apologized and prayed together.

Then, she said, super sassy, "Why should I?" about 20 minutes later.

Are you kidding me?!?!?

But, Jesus redeems, and I handled that way better, calmly sending her to the corner and talking about it reasonably.

That's not me.  That's Him.

The morning was hard, and I told Aaron all about it when he came home for lunch.  I had considered texting him about it but realized that's just not something a person wants to hear via text!

As he was leaving, he reminded me that God's mercies are new every morning AND every afternoon.

And they are!  The afternoon started off with me bringing Maggie and Gracie into Leah's class so I could be the Dr. Seuss reader!

I help in Leah's class once a week, so I know all of the kids and it's super fun to be there!  Leah's teacher is a great friend of mine, so I love to see her, too!

I'm glad that Jesus can take something that started out poorly and make it end really well.