Mother’s day 2006
So last week one of my girlfriends texted and was asking for prayer as things in the parenting department were getting kind of rough. There have been lots of flare ups with their teenage son and the tension in the house was running quite high. I assured her that I would indeed pray over the situation and her family in general and I then proceeded to dole out advice on the current situation at hand.
It was great because seeing as I am the noted authority on all things parenting, (see post about missing my son’s award ceremony) I am highly qualified to point out what she did wrong in that situation and what she could do better in the future. Never mind that I don’t live in their house and am not directly involved in all that is going on, I just pop my two cents in every now and again and know that my advice is going to be well received and if they just do everything like I tell them then everything will work out fine. HA!
I say all of this because the very next day I was presented with my own parenting challenge and what did I do? Totally blew it! I yelled, I argued, I got frustrated because I wasn’t getting my way and every one was mad at each other until Mr. Wonderful got home and changed the tone of the household for the rest of the evening. If I would have taken my own advice then the we wouldn’t have found ourselves in the middle of a battle of the wills.
At the the church we attended in Eugene the pastor used to say that we were all “loggers for Jesus!” He was referring to the passage in scripture where it says,
Hypocrite! First get the log out of your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye. Matthew 7:5
I have a lot of logging to do my friends! Fortunately the advice that I gave to my friend wasn’t overly critical and is the same advice that I would have given to myself. God in his wisdom provided me with an opportunity very quickly to show that in moments of exasperation and frustration we don’t always make the best choices. All we can do is recognize our failings, try to gain composure for the next go around and pray that we never give advice to others that we are not willing to follow through with ourselves.
Have a great day, All!
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Great word Tiffany. Embracing my own failures and sins (“Glorying in my weaknesses”) is the prerequisite for any ministry I will ever have with others. All else is information transfer only and never brings life.
Love your postings. Thanks
Robert Andrews
Loggers for Jesus. Never heard that one before, but this was right on. Here I thought you were Super Momma. Guess I just saw the Sunday morning after the car ride Momma. Love your posts Tiffany. Love you sharing your life honestly with us.
I love the logger for Jesus. And how Mr Wounderful calmed the house hold, not having my Mr. Wounderful any more that happened at out house hold many times, so all that have a Husband always let them calm the storm because they are the Head Of The House hold where God wants them, our umbrella now Jesus is mine. Always remember this, don’t ever try to be the one in control ok. Love you!!!