<\/p>\n
Recently, one of my children accused me of wanting her to be perfect.<\/p>\n
After the initial denial, I realized she was right.<\/p>\n
Mamas are supposed to hold the standard high, aren\u2019t we? If I do, maybe they won\u2019t fail in life. Maybe they won\u2019t suffer through the school of hard knocks like I did. Instill some discipline, establish healthy eating habits, set them on the straight and narrow and they\u2019ll turn out okay.<\/p>\n
Or so goes the thought.<\/p>\n
But tucked somewhere in all the \u2018shoulds\u2019 and the \u2018going against the grain\u2019 and the \u2018doing hard things\u2019 needs to be something else:\u00a0 A fat measure of \u2018knowing their frames.\u2019 Without that, our best intentions are tyrannical and will only produce heartless, judgmental automatons.<\/p>\n
I think of this especially as I watch them sitting next to me in church, a huge line of children, my children, all so beautiful, all needing love, each with his or her own struggles. Maybe it\u2019s because sitting in church is one of the only times they sit still enough to observe them. Maybe it\u2019s because in church we\u2019re all a bit more vulnerable, a bit more impressionable, a bit more aware of our weaknesses. It\u2019s also a place we should be, despite all these things, more aware of the grace lavished on our parched and broken souls than any other time in the week.<\/p>\n
The foundation has been laid. My kids know how to sweep the corners of the kitchen and how to properly put the refried beans away in the refrigerator. They try hard and they work hard. They know what is expected. But do they know grace? Do I? Sure, there are times to push and force and make the point stick. But there are also times to do a boy\u2019s dishes for him when he\u2019s been gone on a Boy Scout project all day. For pulling little bodies into tickle sessions when exhaustion-induced bickering breaks out. For stroking the soft cheeks of a boy while he tells me the contents of his not-even-close-to-perfect heart. Lectures can wait. Other opportunities to rebuke and remind will come.<\/p>\n
But, for tonight\u2026grace.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Recently, one of my children accused me of wanting her to be perfect. After the initial denial, I realized she was right. Mamas are supposed to hold the standard high, aren\u2019t we? If I do, maybe they won\u2019t fail in life. Maybe they won\u2019t suffer through the school of hard knocks like I did. Instill […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[61,132,130,129,131],"class_list":["post-1069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-children","tag-discipline","tag-grace","tag-knowing-their-frames","tag-mothering"],"yoast_head":"\n