Loving Your Kids

Today something is heavy on my heart...people loving their kids.

We have to love our children.  We are their parents and we HAVE to love them...ALL THE TIME!  Do they always make decisions we agree with?  NO.  Do they always say things we would?  NO.  They are looking at life through their eyes and with their experiences.  We are looking through our eyes,  with our eyes and experiences.  We can't just disagree and not love them or give them ultimatums.  Teens don't deal with ultimatums...do we?  No, we don't like them either.  My kids aren't perfect...I'm not perfect and you aren't perfect, but yet our Heavenly Father loves us unconditionally.  And I am so grateful for that...it helps me measure my love for my children when they make "not me" choices. 

I attended a meeting for work in Las Vegas one time and the speaker was a lady who had written a book, "Fierce Conversations."  She commented that every conversation we have with anyone is either a positive or negative experience.  This really convicted me with my children.  Sometimes as parents we are frustrated, running late or just tired and say things we shouldn't say to anyone, much less the people we love the most.  Our children listen to what we say (if you don't believe that, just listen to them...you will hear your own words coming out of their mouths) and remember.  If it isn't positive, take a deep breath and then speak.  We want our children to have happy and positive memories.  Someone can say 10 nice things to me but when they say something unkind that is what I remember. 

When my son, Jordan, made an unpopular decision, we were talking about it and he said, "Mom, you're the only mom I have.  Don't you love me?"  WOW!  Out of the mouths of babes.  Of course we say we love them but the actions and words have to prove that to them.  We are their only parents and we only have so little time with them that our actions and words are so important. 

Love your children...when they cry, get angry and say something they shouldn't to you it's because you're their MOM.  You are the one who should love them unconditionally and everyday tell them and show them.  In the cold world we live in you are their strength and their example of love.  Let them be children, but LOVE THEM as Christ loves us.

Happy Reading...now go give your kids a hug and a kiss.  It may be the only ones they get today.

Christi