Grace

I vented my frustrations, for the thousandth time, to my husband. It wasn’t anything he hadn’t heard before. The same struggles I face as an imperfect mother raising imperfect children.

Gosh, why couldn’t they just obey? Just do what I asked the first time? Not talk back or throw fits? Why did they have to push the buttons they know will set me off? And why couldn’t they just see how hard I’m trying and be grateful?

I’m going to let you in on a not so little secret… it’s challenging work to raise kids.

And it’s especially challenging raising strong willed, high energy, eloquent, sensitive, intelligent, independent ones. Or at least it is for me.

Yet as I lamented my plight, a giant wave of conviction came crashing over me as the Lord readjusted my perspective.

Because I bet it’s tough to be raised by a mother who dabbles in perfectionism and is prone to legalism. A mother who has extremely high standards that she refuses to lower and unrealistic expectations that she tends to cast onto others.

And it’s got to be frustrating to have a mom who runs short on patience, doesn’t like to veer from her plans, occasionally expects you to read her mind, and has her own list of sinful behaviors she’s also very slowly working through.

I know my children will look back on the first twenty years of their lives with criticism of what I could’ve done better. And, although they don’t know it now, there are many days I beat myself up for so often missing the mark as their mother.

But grace is what we both need. Grace and forgiveness, and a good measure of it. Because we are on a lifelong journey together, and we’re never going to get it completely right.

God is the only perfect parent to ever exist, despite our best efforts to share the title. And, He has quite the job, too. I mean, His children are forgetful, sinful, ungrateful. You’ve probably seen a few of them around. You might even be one them.

And yet He gives us grace. Grace upon grace. Lavishing His love upon us even when we don’t deserve it.

So, let us freely give what we have received. To our children. To our parents. To one another.

The grace that is greater than all our sin.