I have to give a disclaimer here.
I am about to boast.
But I am not going to boast that I am a wonderful parent.
I am not going to boast that I have wonderful children.
I am not going to boast that I was smart enough to figure out how to do it right.
I am going to boast in the Lord.
1 Cor 1:31 says “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”
And I have to tell you that I am boasting in the fruit of Biblical parenting.
Today we stopped by Walgreens. The minute the door opening I heard this piercing scream and I instantly turned to see who was being assaulted. Surely someone's life is being threatened! And my eyes met an all too familiar site.
I see a little 4- 5 year old boy was screaming at the top of his lungs as his mother tried to ignore the scene he was making. Wow! Was it loud! As Maddie(10), David (4) and I (not telling) walked by them it was hard not to stare.
The boy screamed and whined.
It was one of those screams that says,
"my heart is really not in this, but I have to keep this up so I will get what I want".
He would take breathes, look around, see that the situation with his mom has not changed and then scream some more.
It became quickly apparent that he had wanted a toy which the store did not have and the mom was saying "maybe we can get something else".
"NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!"
He screamed.
So we walked on by and went to the toys isle.
We were drawn to the toy isle by the big 50% off Toys sign at the front of the store. (we were killing time) In the toy isle David found a really fun looking basketball game. He has a birthday coming up in March so I figured at 50% off it must be a steal.
I said to David "Do you want this?"
He said "Yes!"
I handed it to him to carry and we began to look at other toys because Maddie currently has $ 20.00 burning a hole in her pocket from Christmas.
Soon the screamer showed up and he and his mom continued bargaining over toys.
At this time I was feeling burdened and hoping that this woman would spontaneously come up to me and say "HELP ME!" and then I would share the gospel with her and teach her all about Biblical Parenting and save her from her fate.
But that did not happen.
My heart was also rejoicing in the fact that God saved me and that I had life abundantly because of Christ's sacrifice on the cross.
And rejoicing that I am not in her shoes. Not in that place of helplessness. Of feeling like nothing any of the experts have to tell about how to parent work! Of knowing I hate this behavior, but am helpless to do anything about it. That hopeless helpless place....
So we walked up to the cashier to check the price of the basketball game.
She scanned it and told me the price was 16.00.
I looked at David and told him "Sorry, David we are not going to buy it. It is too much money."
I held my breath and waited for David's response. Now mind you David is a sinner. He does not always respond the right way. But he has been trained. he has been taught and he has a lot of experience that tells him what is okay and what is not okay when it comes to these types of situations.
He looked at me and with the cutest little nasally voice said "Okay."
Woo-HOOO!!! My heart rejoiced in the fruit of Biblical parenting displayed in David's life as I looked around to see if perhaps the screamer and his mom had been watching us as we had been watching them.
They were not.
As we walked outside Maddie commented on how disturbing the screaming had been.
I turned to her and quoted this verse "Folly is bound up in the heart of a child and the rod of correction will drive it far from him" .
She smiled.
"Maddie aren't you glad that Mommy disciplines you ?"
"Yeah" she said.
"Are you going to discipline your children when you are a Mommy?
"YES!" she said.
"And you know why we discipline you right?"
"Because you love me!" She wisely responded.......
1 Cor 1:31 says “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”
Thank you God for allowing me to boast this day in the Lord and in fruit of Biblical parenting.
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