“Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with Him and learn a life of love.” Ephesians 5:1-2, The Message
Lately, Alyssa has been repeating everything we say. Therefore, my husband and I have been extra careful to mind our “P’s” and “Q’s.” And while our scripture today clearly states that our children learn proper behavior from us, I will admit to a recent “slip-up” with my daughter just this past week. You see, out of nowhere, Alyssa let out a huge burp and without thinking, I began laughing and said out loud (to myself – or so I thought) “Good one Alyssa.” Well, to my dismay, now every time Alyssa lets out a burp (which seems to be a constant occurrence right now), she breaks out into laughter and declares “Good one, Alyssa!” Ugh!
When circumstances come our way and we don’t know what to do – we simply need to look toward Heaven and ask ourselves, “What would Jesus do?” God will always give us proper wisdom and guidance for the situation at hand. The best news for us today is that even when we make wrong decisions, God still loves us! Let that truth sink into your spirit….”God loves me.” No matter how much we mess up or say the wrong thing, God loves us! Depending on the situation, God may encourage us to ask forgiveness or turn away from a wrong behavior, but all the while He loves us! Selah (pause and think about that).
Needless to say, I am working with my daughter to say “excuse me” when air expels from her tummy through her windpipe, ? but no matter what Alyssa says or does, I will always love her! I pray that you will receive God’s love for you this day. And may we all continually keep company with Jesus and learn how to love as He loves!
Prayer:
Lord, thank you for loving me no matter what! I get so frustrated with myself when I make wrong choices, but you always love me. Please give me peace while working things out in my life. I am amazed at your grace and mercy! I long to love as You love and give an as You give. I choose this day to look toward heaven and keep company with You. Amen.
I have to admit. We too had to be very careful about what we say in front of our children. We had to recheck our behavior and ask the same question “What would Jesus Do?” However, we took it a step furhter by saying “not only is is important to watch what we say in front of our children also to watch what we say when we are not in front of them as well.” We had to change our conversation completely. We as parents want to represent Christ to our children completely, so we are working on our thought process and placing in God’s Word instead of negative thoughts and our teaching our children the same. So, yes I believe that our behaviors are a pattern of our thoughts. If we change the way we think eventually our behavior will dicate that as well.
You are so right Stephanie! I love how God uses our children to shape our souls:) We are to be “Jesus” to our little ones all the time:) And when (notice I said when, not if) we mess up, we simply need to ask for their forgiveness. It’s amazing how we can role-model right behavior every single day!
Blessings to you my sweet sister!
OH SO TRUE!!! Our kids most often will do what we do rather than what we say to do. If we pray, they’ll pray! If we sing, they’ll sing! If we praise, they’ll praise! The flip side of that is obvious: If we curse, they’ll curse! If we’re negative, they’ll be negative! If we ignore God, so will they!
If we allow God to, He’ll use our kids to “grow us”, as well as “grow us up”!!
Good word, Trac!
Love you much!
Bri~