Well, we made it through week one together. I saw on Instagram that quite a few of you memorized last weeks verse, yay! I love seeing that and am encouraged that I am not on this journey alone. If you’re not following along on Instagram, well then... you should stop reading this blog now and go follow @themommytribe so we can interact through out the week.
The verse for week two is:
Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.
- Ephesians 4:29
(To edify means to instruct or benefit, especially morally or spiritually; uplift.)
Oh boy. This verse covers many areas of life.... but it is incredibly convicting for me in my current season of raising a four year old who keeps my mouth moving from 6:00am until he’s in bed at 8:00pm. His 47 questions every minute need answers. His sweet ramblings need affirmation. His tasks needs instruction and his behavior needs discipline. So my mouth is.moving.constantly. The introvert in me is exhausted by lunch time.... which is why I’m so thankful for a short intermission called nap time. If I can be totally honest, lately I’ve watched my kind hearted, gentle four year old develop what you would refer to as.... an attitude. I wont go into details but I can honestly say that when I see it peak out in his responses to me, it is as if he is holding a mirror up to my face. I am looking at my own flaws and my own attitude. A hurried response. An upset tone. It’s my sinful nature fleshed out in a four year old. An attitude looks ugly on anyone but it looks especially sad on a child, doesn’t it? That attitude is not an example of “a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.” My annoyance and lack of patience is the opposite. It is graceless and does not help to instruct or benefit my children in any way. My responses should be gentle, my instruction filled with patience and my discipline marked with kindness and grace so that my children would understand Godly discipline. It is not a form of revenge but a deep expression of love.
The truth is every word that comes out of my mouth flows directly from my heart (...for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart. - Luke 6:45). So why the hurried response or the harsh tone? Because I’m a sinner and my heart is prone to value myself above my children. I can view them as a blessing or I can view them as an interruption. Raising my two boys has made me understand being a sinner IN NEED OF GRACE more than anything else in my life. On my own I can not live up to this verse. I’ll fail.... most likely today, but I will lean into my Savior who offers me grace and gives me the endurance for this marathon of mothering. And as I fill my heart with more and more truth, I will trust that the outpouring of my heart will become sweeter and richer in grace.
As we etch this truth into our hearts this week, my prayer for us is that Jesus would help us live it.... not just know it; to let this truth transform how we interact with our children from sun up to sun down.
Oh Lord, let the words our mouths be of benefit to out children’s souls. Protect their hearts from any unwholesome words that may slip through our lips today. And would you help us to live lives full of grace that make You irresistible to the little eyes watching us and the little ears listening to us?
Oh Lord, let the words our mouths be of benefit to out children’s souls. Protect their hearts from any unwholesome words that may slip through our lips today. And would you help us to live lives full of grace that make You irresistible to the little eyes watching us and the little ears listening to us?
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