In Haste

In the last two weeks since I last posted, I had realized that many times I had spoken in haste. I'm sure that there were even times I was guilty of this and still don't even realize it. The incidences I'm referring to now however, happened with my children. I won't go too much into specifics, to protect the innocent, but I will use one example. My son came to me with a toy squirrel, or was it a chipmunk? I keep forgetting! My children will set me straight I'm sure because I couldn't even keep it straight when the incident happened! Anyway, there was some discrepancy over this rodent and when I approached my children, my son had said the stuffed animal was his friends. I said it wasn't and to put it back in the basement. He was getting rather upset and when I instructed him again to put his sister's chipmunk in the basement, that's when I got myself in trouble. See, my daughter has/had an animal just like that and I was certain it was hers. The situation continued to escalate and right about the time I was ready to discipline my son, he hands me the thing and says, "smell it!" Oh boy! I knew at that moment that he was certain it was his friends. So, I took this stuffed creature in my hands and put it to my nose. Sure enough, there was no mistake who's chipmunk it was! The smell of fabric softener totally gave it away! It WAS my son's friend's animal! Well, now I had to do something I'm not great at-apologize. Ouch! That was the last thing I wanted to do after this whole ordeal! After all, by this time I was already upset, and it's just human nature to be even more upset a 7 year old was right! So...I apologized(not so humbly, I might add), and was very embarrassed for my stubbornness and pride.

See, that particular week, there were many occasions similar to this with my children. I had spoken in haste way too many times and was wrong. These incidences were weighing heavy on my conscience. Right about the same time as this was happening, life got very busy. I started to be too busy to follow my Bible reading schedule, too busy to pray, too busy to take the time to listen to my children-really listen to them, and I didn't have anything to write on my blog because my mind was too full of "stuff". Therefore, because I wasn't reading and praying like I should, there was no communion between myself and God.

Today wasn't a great day. Monday's are not my favorite day as anyone who knows me can attest to. I think though that today's struggles were magnified by my being out of sync with God and His Word. How can I expect more from my children than I do of myself? How can i expect them to behave as Christ and not apply that same principle to me? As I spoke to my daughters on their behavior, somewhere in the middle of my lecture, I ended up getting a good spanking from the Lord on mine. I guess I just want to say that we all need to try not to speak in haste, especially with our children. They are smarter than we give them credit for and will pick up on it for sure. I'm going to leave you tonight with some verses from Proverbs that spoke to me.

"The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD. All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits. Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established. " Proverbs 16:1-3

"Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished. By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil. When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." Proverbs 16:5-7

"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud. He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the LORD, happy is he. The wise in heart shall be called prudent: and the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning." Proverbs 16:18-21

"Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones." Proverbs 16:24

"He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city." Proverbs 16:32