Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Enjoying every moment

In spite of a lot of online drama recently, I've been really enjoying my kids. I've really been focusing on just enjoying every moment and accepting it for what it is. I really think this is key in a good parent/child relationship.

Accepting every moment for what it is really released me from a lot of anger and frustration. Accepting the fact that you can't make the kids stop screaming by getting frustrated with them. Just accept the fact that they are screaming and deal with it in a calm yet assertive manner, or just enjoy it because one day your house won't be so noisy and you'll wish you had these days back.

So for whoever, reads this today, try it. Accept each moment for what it is and enjoy it all because one day it won't be there anymore.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Obedience

Why is it that we, as parents, so often want, even demand, obedience from our children? We think we can make them obey us by fear, or bribery. I know the Bible says, "Thou shall obey thy mother and father.", but doesn't that tell us that God has a hand in that too? I know I didn't obey my parents all the time and I came out alright.

I've fallen into this way of thinking lately and I want to stop. It's not helping anyone in this house at all. Why do I feel this way? I am afraid that my kids will grow up to be law breakers and in jail. I don't want others to look at me and think, "that woman can't control her kids".

What is control anyway? Is is a quitet, "obedient" child that can't express themselves? Or is it a child that's allowed to express ALL emotions no matter where they are and obey their parents out of love instead of fear.

Anyway, I am striving to get rid of these thoughts. Number one, I don't live in fear. I refuse to do it. Number two, I'd much rather have a great relationship with my child than impress the nosey old lady next door.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Thought on sermon from church

Blessed are those who Mourn

Scriptures:

Isaiah 61:1-3, 1 Peter 5:10, Matthew 5:1-2, 4

I did not go to church this morning, but dh took the boys. The little one just was not ready when we had to leave, so I stayed home with him. Our pastor prints up an outline for us, so my thoughts are coming from this.


"If we do not repent(mourn for oiur sins), God cannot help us."
- I like this because it is so true. So often we get upset with God because something doesn't go our way, but how often do we stop and look at who really caused the strife? Many times we will find that it was actually ourselves that caused us this pain and heartache. For every action we make there is a concequence. Good or bad, there's still a concequence. God is a loving God. He is our father. What father doesn't want his children to succeed? I don't think any father on this planet wishes bad things to come to their child. However, there comes a point in everyones life that the parent has to let go and allow that child to deal with the concequences of their actions. God WANTS to help us all. He loves us unconditionaly, but if we aren't making the right choices his hands, in a sence, become tied.

"All who mourn and turn to God are strengthened & comforted."
- It's not easy looking at all we have done wrong. It's very hard to admit when we do things that hurt others or ourselves, but when we do God is there with us. He comforts us and lifts us up to live another day.


"Forgiveness is not forgetting"
- So often we hear, "forgive and forget." I've never understood this and Pastor touched on it today. We are not to forget our sins. We are to learn from them and do differently next time.




So live today for today. If you have not repented, do it now and enjoy the relationship with your Father the way HE created it to be.

Hello

Welcome to my journey. Crazy Simplicity is something I think we all have to some extent. It's funny that we all strive so hard to simplify our lives. We buy how to books, and go to seminars on how to simplify our life. I'm guilty of the book buying myself. Why do we do this? Isn't simplifying your life about buying and doing less? Figuring out what is most important to you and doing that?

At any rate, in this blog you will find parenting stuff, energy work, decluttering, cleaning, etc. It's kind of a collection of what's going on in my life.