Take the Photo First
Photo image courtesy Pixabay
As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. – Psalm 103:13 (CSB)
My advice to young parents with small children has always been to keep their camera ready. Our smart phones are able to capture the craziness and chaos of raising kids. I always found the process of taking the pictures first before I reacted to the situation, gave me enough time to chill out and see the humor in the mess. It’s better than counting to ten because you have the memory to look back on and share a laugh. Kids are messy—family is messy. We all make lots of mistakes, but the important thing is that we learn from our mistakes.
Thank goodness we have a compassionate Father. He loves it when we crawl up in His lap and ask for forgiveness. As parents, we have to help our children understand that what they do wrong is unacceptable, but praise them when they get it right. Some things they do or get into out of curiosity just aren’t that important. We have to decide if it’s worthy of a parental meltdown. Treating our children with love and compassion is what Jesus would do. Jesus loved blessing the children and He didn’t want His disciples to prevent them from coming to Him. He wants all of us to come to Him as innocent children, believing we can be made clean by God’s forgiveness.
I loved being a mother to my young kids and seeing the world anew through their eyes. I got to rediscover everything my five senses could take in. Their curiosity and sponge-like minds made them eager to learn and experience everything. We have such a responsibility to teach them in God’s way and light. They can learn to deal with life in a positive way or in a reactive, negative way. Our example says it all even more than our words. We have to pray about everything when it comes to parenting. Maybe you could pray as you grab your smart phone. Our children need to hear us pray. Let’s give them Godly shoes to fill as we teach them compassion, patience, and God’s love. We can laugh with them now and then again later when they are all grown up as we show them the “caught in the act” moments we captured in photos.
Questions for Reflection:
1. Do you think about what Jesus would do as you parent?
2. Think of some teachable moments you’ve had with your kids. What might you change in the next teachable moment and ask God to prepare you and help you?
3. Do you think we, as parents, should apologize to children for our behavior sometimes?
